LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 

m     1  1939 

THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

BX6333  .D3  H6  1919 
Dargan,  Edwin  Charles,  1852- 
1930. 
The  hope  of  glory 

The  Hope  of  Glory 


WORKS  BY 

K   C.    DARGAN,    P.P. 

The  Hope  of  Glory 

12mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

'  'There  are  few  greater  preachers  in  America 
than  Dr.  Dargan.  Eloquent,  passionately  in 
earnest,  with  an  almost  classical  style,  he  satis- 
fies both  the  thoughtful  and  the  less  thoughtful 
of  his  auditors.  This  volume  contains  twelve 
finely  wrought  sermons  from  this  master  of  homi- 
letics.  By  all  means,  read  the  book." — Dr. 
Curtis  Lee  Laivs,  in  The  Watchman-Examiner. 

The  Changeless  Christ 

AND  OTHER  SERMONS. 

12mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

"A  volume  of  virile  addresses,  the  general 
theme  treated  of  being,  as  the  title  indicates, 
the  abiding  characteristics  of  the  believer's  Lord. 
Dr.  Dargan  writes  in  full  an  appreciation  of  the 
dark,  troublous  days  through  which  the  world  is 
passing,  yet  even  when  facing  present  world- 
conditions  is  unswervingly  confident  of  the  ulti- 
mate triumph  of  truth  and  righteousness. " 

—Christian  Wcrk. 


The  Hope  of  Glory 

And  Other  Sermons 


BY 

EDWIN  CHARLES  DARGAN 

Author  of  "The  Changeless  Christ," 
**The  History  »f  Preaching,"  ttc. 


New  York  Chicago 

Fleming    H.    Revell    Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

"Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory."     Col.  1 :  27. 

IT  was  the  delight  of  Paul's  heart  that 
he  was  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  He 
was  indeed  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews, 
and  more  than  once,  in  burning  language, 
he  declares  his  deep  and  intense  interest  in 
the  salvation  of  his  own  people.  Yet, 
though  reluctant  at  first,  it  was  a  joy  to 
him  that  God  had  sent  him  to  preach  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  to  the  Gen- 
tile world.  He  had  caught  the  world- 
embracing  spirit  of  the  Master,  whose  he 
was,  and  whom  he  served.  It  was  the  spirit 
of  a  universal  religion.  It  warmed  the 
heart,  fired  the  imagination  and  flowed 
out  in  the  life  of  this  great  evangelist.  As 
in  all  of  his  epistles,  so  in  this,  the  preach- 
ing of  Christ  to  the  nations  is  the  per- 
vading thought.  The  prevalence  of  some 
fatal  errors  concerning  Christ  among  some 
teachers  who  had  influence  with  the  Colos- 
sians  led  Paul  to  dwell  on  the  majesty  and 
7 


8  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

glory  of  Jesus.  He  sets  forth,  in  strong 
and  glowing  terms,  the  exalted  worth  and 
dignity  of  his  blessed  Messiah,  his  own 
Lord,  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God.  He  is  the 
head  of  all  things,  first-born  of  all  creation, 
through  whom  all  things  were  created  and 
in  whom  all  things  subsist.  Head  of  the 
Church,  he  is  in  all  things  preeminent,  mak- 
ing reconciliation  for  man  in  his  blood  shed 
upon  the  cross.  For  the  nations  of  the 
world  this  atonement  had  been  made,  and 
Paul  himself  had  become  a  minister  of  this 
world-wide  gospel.  In  the  discharge  of 
this  high  mission  he  regarded  not  his  own 
suffering  that  he  might  fulfill  the  Word  of 
God.  The  secret  which  had  been  hidden 
from  ages  past  was  only  partially  made 
known  to  God's  chosen  people,  but  now 
was  proclaimed  and  manifested  even  to 
the  Gentiles.  He  calls  this  a  ''mystery,** 
but  we  must  remember  that  he  used  that 
term  not  as  we  do  now,  to  signify  an  un- 
solved problem,  but  in  its  proper  signifi- 
cance of  a  secret  communicated  to  those 
who  were  initiated  into  some  order  or  cir- 
cle. So  it  was  an  open  secret,  a  thing  kept 
in  the  mind  of  God  until  the  proper  time 
should  come  to  make  it  known  to  the  world. 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  9 

Now  it  has  become  known.  It  is  the  plan 
of  redemption  for  all  the  world.  God  has 
now  been  pleased  to  make  known  among 
the  Gentiles  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this 
revealed  secret,  "which  is  Christ  in  you, 
the  hope  of  glory."  How  rich  is  this  ex- 
pression of  the  gospel!  It  is  a  body  of 
divinity  and  a  code  of  life  in  one  sentence. 
Let  US  carefully  think  what  is  meant  by 
*Hhe  hope  of  glory"  and  how  Christ  in  us 
constitutes  that  hope. 

I.    What  is  the  Hope  of  Glory? 

We  need  not  dwell  upon  the  strength  and 
beauty  of  hope  as  a  quality  of  our  human 
nature.  Thousands  of  beautiful  utterances 
about  it,  in  both  prose  and  poetry,  are 
found  in  all  languages  and  literature.  No 
words  can  be  too  choice  nor  too  glowing  to 
picture  its  beauty  and  its  charm.  Schiller 
has  sung  in  immortal  verse  how  hope  is 
born  with  our  infant  life,  plays  about  our 
growing  youth,  comforts  our  manhood,  and 
cheers  declining  age,  and  even  then,  when 
the  grave  closes  down  upon  the  journey's 
end,  we  plant  above  it  the  fadeless  blossom 
of  hope.  Other  poets  and  writers  have 
sung  and  told  of  its  preciousness,  yet  it  is 


10  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

not  a  sentiment  only.  It  is  a  strong  prin- 
ciple, in  well-known  Scripture  phrase,  ''An 
anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and  stead- 
fast." Of  all  the  hopes  we  men  cherish, 
and  they  are  many,  the  noblest  and  best  is 
that  brought  to  us  in  the  gospel  of  God's 
grace  in  Christ  Jesus, ' '  The  hope  of  glory.  *  * 
If  we  can  get  clearly  before  our  minds  what 
Paul  means  by  "glory"  we  can  then  fill  and 
rejoice  our  hearts  with  the  thought  of  "the 
hope  of  glory." 

Glory  is  a  great  word,  both  in  the  Old 
Testament  and  in  the  New.  "We  cannot 
here  attempt  to  point  out  and  unfold  its 
various  uses  in  different  connections,  but 
it  is  plainly  here  used  in  the  somewhat 
general  sense.  It  is  not  the  glory  of  any 
particular  person  or  thing  that  is  here 
meant.  Not  exclusively  the  glory  of  God, 
or  the  glory  of  Christ,  or  the  glory  of  the 
saints,  or  the  glory  of  heaven.  In  some 
sort  it  embraces  all  these,  indicating  a  state 
of  things  that  is  supremely  good,  exalted, 
brilliant,  splendid,  and  enduring.  "The 
hope  of  glory"  then  is  the  hope  of  attaining 
a  state  of  being  which  is  complete  and  su- 
preme in  every  excellence.  Of  course  this 
is  itself  a  very  general  statement,  and  we 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  11 

may  try  to  make  it  clearer  by  considering 
some  of  the  elements  which  go  to  make  up 
that  glory. 

1.  For  man,  glory  is  to  catch  np  with  his 
nobler  tendencies,  his  best  longings  after 
the  highest  good.  It  is  aspiration  achieved. 
Man  is  full  of  outlooks  on  the  better,  of 
stirrings  for  the  higher.  His  very  con- 
sciousness of  imperfection  makes  him 
yearn  for  the  perfect.  His  sins,  when  duly 
considered,  make  him  thirst  for  holiness, 
and  his  limitations,  even  where  no  fault  is 
involved,  press  him  with  a  quenchless  ea- 
gerness for  freedom  and  power.  If  we  are 
anything  at  all  we  want  to  be  more.  Intel- 
lectually, a  man  who  prizes  mentality,  and 
conscious  of  ignorance  and  weakness,  longs 
for  fuller  knowledge,  for  clearer  light,  has 
a  longing  that  nothing  on  earth  can  satisfy. 
!A  great  teacher  once  said,  in  a  glow  of 
rapture,  "Oh!  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the 
Master  forever,  and  learn  and  learn  and 
learn.*'  Morally,  a  man  who  sees  in  him- 
self the  capability  of  being  good,  and  yet 
looks,  with  infinite  pain  on  the  marred 
wreck  of  his  own  life,  feels  an  unspeak- 
able and  unquenchable  desire  to  be  good. 
Even  when  only  dimly  conscious  of  moral 


12  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

fault,  lie  knows  there  is  something  better 
for  him  than  he  has  ever  reached.  The 
glory  of  man  lies  in  his  intellectual  and 
moral  nature.  The  distress  of  man  is  that 
these,  his  noblest  powers,  are  limited,  and 
his  soul  made  for  the  best  is  hindered, 
sometimes  crushed,  by  failure  and  fault. 
The  shame  and  disgrace  of  man  is  that 
these  noblest  powers  are  often  thwarted 
and  debased  by  his  own  suicidal  neglect  or 
perversion.  Now  show  him  a  state  where 
all  these  hurts  are  healed,  all  these  per- 
versions are  corrected,  all  these  drawbacks 
removed,  and  he  can  find  himself  perfectly 
pure  and  good  forever.  That  is  glory.  It 
is  to  be  all  that  a  soul  can  be,  intellectually 
and  spiritually.  It  is  a  state  where  there 
will  be  no  more  fevered  cries,  * '  More  light, 
more  light";  no  more  despairing  groans, 
"Wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  will  deliver 
me."  Oh!  then  to  us,  clouded  and  dark- 
ened as  we  are,  enveloiDed  in  mists  of  ig- 
norance, fetterd  by  painful  weakness,  fore- 
stalled by  hills  of  difficulty,  burdened  with 
thoughts  of  conscious  fault,  how  bright  a 
word  is  this,  ''The  hope  of  glory."  Sick- 
ness and  weakness  gone,  pain  banished, 
sin  forgiven  and  blotted  out,  death  abol- 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  13 

islied,  and  the  life  joyous  and  triumphant, 
liberal  and  free,  unfettered  and  fine,  en- 
dowed with  perpetual  youth,  and  crowned 
with  everlasting  delight.  This  is  glory. 
The  hope  of  it  is  itself  ''a  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory. ' ' 

2.  The  glory  which  the  Apostle  had  in 
mind  is  not  individual  and  selfish,  but  is 
social.  The  communion  of  the  saints  is 
glory,  the  association  of  the  perfect  is  the 
perfect  state.  Utopian  dreamers  have 
imagined  some  earthly  paradise,  where 
human  beings  live  in  love  and  justice. 
Every  reform,  every  note  of  human  prog- 
ress, every  widening  out  of  human  inter- 
ests has  pointed  to  the  consummate  goal  of 
a  social  state  where  all  men  should  be  good, 
and  none  should  suffer  or  bring  suffering. 
The  accumulated  evils,  the  festering  sores 
of  the  body  politic,  the  shameful  sins,  the 
inhuman  cruelties,  the  foul  vices  which 
have  marred  the  social  life  of  mankind  on 
earth  have  themselves  created  sorrow  and 
loathing  and  the  yearning  for  their  re- 
moval. If  we  can  conceive  of  a  state  where 
material  things,  where  gross  temptations, 
where  rank  injustices  find  no  place;  but 
where  love  and  perfect  purity  have  tri- 


14  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

umphed  and  shall  be  forever  maintained — 
that  is  glory.  The  rapt  Seer  on  Patmos 
was  vouchsafed  some  vision  of  this  exceed- 
ing excellence,  and  in  the  wonderland  of 
the  Apocalypse  has  given  to  it  immortal 
expression.  Golden  streets  and  pearly 
gates,  beautiful  trees  of  life-giving  fruits, 
crystal  streams,  ringing  harps,  unf alien 
angels,  redeemed  and  sanctified  spirits, 
songs  that  cease  not,  harps  of  melt- 
ing melodies  and  trumpets  with  triumphant 
notes  of  victory,  pageants  of  splendor — 
these  are  some  of  the  notes  of  prophetic 
suggestion. 

"Jerusalem  the  golden,  with  milk  and  honey  blessed, 
Beneath  thy  contemplation,  sink  heart  and  voice  op- 


I  know  not.  Oh,  I  know  not,  what  social  joys  are  there, 
What  radiancy  of  glory,  what  bliss  beyond  compare." 

3.  Glory  is  the  vision  of  God.  *' Blessed 
are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see 
God."  **And  his  servants  shall  serve  him, 
and  they  shall  see  his  face."  This  is  the 
crown  of  all.  The  old  theologians  talked 
of  the  beatific  vision,  the  sight  that  makes 
happy.  To  see  the  king  in  his  beauty — 
this  is  indeed  the  vision  splendid.  We  know 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLOKY  15 

how  a  beautiful  sight  delights  the  soul  be- 
yond words  to  tell.  It  may  be  the  majesty 
of  spring,  the  warm  light  of  summer  sun- 
shine, or  the  gold  and  purple  splendors  of 
setting  day,  or  the  simple  grace  of  a  fair 
and  fragile  flower,  or  the  beauty  of  a 
human  face,  lit  with  purity  and  love  and 
peace.  We  have  seen  things  that  make  us 
glad.  But  who  shall  say  that  anything  can 
make  a  soul  so  glad  as  to  see  God?  This 
is  the  vision  promised  in  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  Our  human  language  stumbles  and 
fails  in  its  poor  endeavor  to  express  the 
glory  of  that  vision.  Theologians  have 
discussed  whether  we  shall  see  three  per- 
sons or  only  one,  whether  we  shall  see  only 
Jesus  in  his  glorified  form,  or  even  whether 
we  shall  see  anything  that  corresponds  to 
the  material  sight.  All  such  discourses  are 
futile.  There  is  no  need  to  try  to  analyze 
by  our  poor  process  of  reason,  or  to  ex- 
press in  our  weak  and  imperfect  language 
all  that  can  be  meant  by  seeing  God.  Sure- 
ly we  know  that  the  vision  itself  will  far 
surpass  in  beauty  and  in  joy  every  image 
of  it  that  we  now  can  form.  To  the  thinker, 
puzzled  with  problems,  the  ultimate  good 
will  then  appear.     To  the  artist,  striving 


16  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

for  the  ideal,  perfect  beauty  will  then  ap- 
pear. To  the  simple  soul  that  knows 
naught  but  to  look  and  love,  the  face  of  in- 
finite love  will  be  seen.    That  is  glory. 

Are  these  mere  imaginings  ?  Is  the  hope 
of  such  a  glory  as  this  a  mere  phantom  of 
the  brain,  a  mere  wish  of  the  longing  heart? 
Is  there  any  solid  basis  for  such  a  hope  as 
this?  Yes,  it  is  found  in  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  The  things  of  which  we  have  been 
thinking  are  embraced  in  that  gospel.  The 
Apostle  Paul  was  a  mystic,  but  withal  a 
very  rational  and  practical  man.  The  hope 
of  glory  to  him,  both  as  a  present  experi- 
ence and  as  a  message  of  cheer  to  his  fel- 
lowmen,  was  not  the  baseless  fabric  of  a 
dream,  but  a  reasoned  and  joyful  expecta- 
tion. This  is  involved  in  the  other  great 
thought  of  the  text. 

II.    How  IS  This  Hope  Realized? 

The  answer  is  emphatic  and  profound^^ 
' '  Christ  in  you. ' '  Surely  this  is  one  of  the 
most  comprehensive  of  all  sayings.  If  we 
consider  well  what  it  means,  it  will  be  easy 
to  see  how  the  hope  of  glory  may  become 
and  remain  a  fadeless  possession.  Per- 
haps we  may  catch  the  profound  meaning 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  17 

of  the  Apostle  by  saying  that  it  is  Christ 
known  in  you  and  Christ  felt  in  you — 
known  as  a  historical  fact,  felt  as  a  per- 
sonal conviction.  The  person  and  work  of 
Christ  apprehended  among  you,  as  un- 
folded in  the  narrative  and  doctrinal  state- 
ments of  the  New  Testament,  the  spirit  and 
influence  of  Christ  felt  within  you  as  the 
experience  of  your  own  heart  and  life. 

1.  We  observe  then  that  ** Christ  in  you" 
means  Christ  known  by  you  as  a  historic 
person.  Let  us  remember  that  the  recep- 
tion of  the  facts  of  history  is  always  an  act 
of  faith.  Other  things  being  equal,  the  fur- 
ther removed  the  facts  are  from  our  own 
time  and  observation,  the  more  difficult  are 
they  to  believe.  To  the  modern  mind  ac- 
cordingly, the  historic  apprehension  of 
Christ  is  more  difficult  than  it  could  have 
been  to  these  Colossian  Christians  to  whom 
Paul  was  writing.  He  himself  may  possi- 
bly (if  one  brief  allusion  may  be  so  under- 
stood) have  seen  Christ  in  the  flesh,  but  if 
not,  he  had  received  his  historic  informa- 
tion at  first  hand  from  those  who  had  been 
eye  witnesses  of  the  life  and  deeds  of  Jesus. 
Hence  any  apprehension  of  Christianity  as 
a  system  of  doctrines  and  code  of  morals 


18  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

could  not  have  been  to  them  so  distinct 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  personal  Christ  as 
it  is  to  us.  But  though  it  be  difficult  for  our 
generation  to  image  clearly  the  historic 
Christ,  it  is  not  impossible.  It  is  the  dis- 
tinct function  of  what  we  call  the  historic 
imagination  to  reproduce  from  the  litera- 
ture concerning  any  great  character  such 
features  as  are  possible.  We  can  never,  of 
course,  reproduce  perfectly  any  historic 
personality.  The  fullness  of  the  picture  de- 
pends upon  the  amount  and  kind  of  records 
available.  These  records  are  always  of  two 
kinds — descriptive  narrative,  and  more  or 
less  analytical  presentation  of  character. 
In  the  case  of  our  Lord  both  kinds  of  his- 
toric evidences  are  available.  The  facts  of 
his  wondrous  life  are  portrayed  in  the  Gos- 
pels, and  the  impression  made  by  his  per- 
son upon  those  who  knew  him,  either  imme- 
diately or  at  second  hand,  are  given  in  the 
other  New  Testament  writings.  Allowing 
the  utmost  to  that  unhappy,  destructive 
criticism,  which  has  been  so  ruthlessly  ap- 
plied to  the  New  Testament  writings,  there 
is  abundant  material  left  to  make  sure  the 
Christ  of  history.  The  main  features  of 
his  character,  samples  of  his  mighty  works. 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLOEY  19 

transcripts  of  his  notable  teachings  are 
ours.  Eationally,  to  accept  him  as  pre- 
sented in  the  sources  of  our  information 
about  him  is  to  know  him  historically. 

This  knowledge  is,  of  course,  incomplete, 
as  all  such  knowledge  must  be,  but  it  is 
very  real,  and  the  weight  and  value  of  it 
incomparably  great.  We  know  something, 
and  that  immensely  important,  concerning 
the  facts  of  his  life  and  of  his  own  con- 
sciousness. Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  one  of 
the  most  vivid  and  telling  of  all  the  out- 
standing personages  of  the  past.  The 
knowledge  we  may  obtain  and  cherish  con- 
cerning him,  though  fragmentary,  is  suffi- 
cient for  the  main  and  essential  facts  of 
his  character  and  career.  This  knowledge 
will  include  the  tracery  of  his  character. 
The  man  in  his  purity,  his  dignity,  his 
strength,  his  kindness,  his  love,  is  revealed 
to  us.  The  teacher  and  preacher  in  his 
force,  his  simplicity,  combined  with  depth, 
his  earnestness,  his  profoundly  serious 
view  of  life  and  its  meaning,  his  conviction 
of  the  future  life  and  its  glory,  stands 
clearly  before  us.  This  knowledge  will  in- 
clude the  facts  and  significance  of  his  life 
work.     It  deals  with  his  deeds  in  their 


20  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY 

mercy  and  power ;  in  their  didactic  and  ex- 
emplary glory.  Chiefly  it  will  take  in  and 
emphasize  that  special  feature  of  his  work 
which  stood  out  so  clearly  in  his  own  con- 
sciousness, and  is  reflected  with  such  tre- 
mendous power  in  the  teachings  of  his  au- 
thorized spokesmen — that  is,  his  work  of 
redemption.  The  Christ  of  history  is  con- 
summately the  Christ  of  the  cross.  Let  us 
reflect  how  valuable  is  this  historic  appre- 
hension of  Christ  as  a  basis  for  the  *'hope 
of  glory"  of  which  we  speak.  That  hope 
is  enwrapt  in  the  historic  reality  of  Jesus 
as  man,  teacher  and  redeemer. 

2.  ''Christ  in  you"  means  Christ  felt  in 
you  as  a  personal  conviction,  realized  as 
a  personal  experience.  This,  it  appears,  is 
the  main  thing  in  the  mind  of  the  Apostle. 
Founded  in  the  knowledge  of  his  life  and 
character,  it  is  a  deeper  and  more  personal 
realization  of  the  present  living  Christ  who 
has  thus  been  brought  to  our  knowledge. 
Here  is  something  so  personal  and  intense 
that  it  cannot  be  understood  by  those  who 
are  strangers  to  it.  The  historic  Christ 
may  be  the  subject  of  study,  but  the  per- 
sonal Saviour  is  that,  and  more  than  that. 
A  man  can  indeed  tell  others  that  Christ  is 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  21 

a  personal  experience  with  him,  but  he  can- 
not thereby  make  him  a  personal  experi- 
ence to  others.  He  may  even  tell  how  Jesus 
became  a  personal  experience  to  himself, 
but  at  least  he  will  only  be  describing  very 
imperfectly  in  language  a  vital  experience 
that  no  language  can  fully  express. 

There  are  several  aspects  in  which  this 
great  experience  must  be  viewed.  First 
of  all,  it  is  the  acceptance  and  constant  re- 
lation of  the  personal  Christ  as  a  Saviour 
from  sin.  This  is  the  first  thing,  and  in 
some  sense,  the  main  thing.  In  Christ's 
own  lifetime,  this  already  began  to  be  felt 
by  some.  But  even  by  these  it  was  only 
fully  understood  after  his  death  and  resur- 
rection. Peter,  speaking  for  the  others  as 
well  as  himself,  acknowledged  him  as  the 
Christ  of  God,  but  in  his  Pentecost  sermon 
and  other  addresses,  he  presented  Jesus  as 
the  Saviour,  accepted  by  himself,  and  pro- 
claimed to  others.  In  his  epistles  also,  the 
historic  reality  of  Jesus  mingles  with  the 
personal  relation  to  his  Saviourhood.  Thus 
it  has  ever  been  in  the  history  of  God's 
saints,  in  sermon  and  song,  in  story  and 
treatise,  through  the  centuries  the  saints 
bave  told  the  story  of  his  love  and  of  their 


22  THE  HOPE  OF  GLOKY 

enthronement  of  him  in  their  heart  of 
hearts  as  the  one  only  and  sufficient  Sav- 
iour. This  is  to  have  Christ  in  you,  and 
this  is  to  cherish  the  hope  of  glory. 

"Christ  in  you"  also  means  Christ  as  a 
rule  of  life  and  conduct.  Jesus  is  not  only 
the  way,  but  he  is  also  the  truth ;  not  only 
the  Eedeemer,  but  the  guide  of  men.  To 
know  his  life  and  teachings  is  to  accept 
him  as  model  and  lawgiver.  Knowing  his 
life,  and  that  it  was  the  best  the  world  has 
ever  known,  we  have  an  incentive  to  make 
our  lives  like  it.  They  should  be  like  that 
life,  in  its  superhuman  unselfishness,  in  its 
high-souled  consecration  to  duty,  in  its  beau- 
tiful purity,  in  its  lofty  consciousness  of  its 
mission.  This  is  what  Paul  meant  when  he 
said  '*to  me  to  live  is  Christ,"  this  is  what 
Jesus  enjoined  when  he  said,  ''Abide  in  me, 
and  I  in  you.  As  the  branch  cannot  bear 
fruit  of  itself  except  it  abide  in  the  vine, 
no  more  can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in  me." 
He  in  us,  and  we  in  him.  This  is  the  ex- 
pression and  the  condition  of  a  true  Chris- 
tian experience.  The  more  conscious  we 
are  of  this  indwelling  Christ,  the  more  real 
does  every  hope  connected  with  him  be- 
come.   Thus  realized  in  the  life  of  faith  and 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  23 

trust,  Christ  becomes  indeed  to  every  soul 
so  possessing  liim  the  hope  of  glory.  The 
wonderful  presentment  of  Jesus  in  the 
Gospel  of  John  makes  this  more  distinct. 
Jesus  said,  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and 
the  life."  He  said  to  Martha,  ''I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life.  He  that  believeth 
in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he 
live."  So  Paul  assures  us  that  Jesus 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 
through  the  gospel.  So  an  accepted  Sav- 
iour, tested  by  life,  becomes  "the  hope  of 
glory"  hereafter.  From  no  other  lips  have 
fallen  so  sure  and  sweet  assurances  of  the 
life  beyond.  Through  no  other  helper  have 
come  so  clear  and  strong  the  promises  of 
help  and  happiness.  It  is  but  common- 
place to  say  that  the  more  we  realize  Christ 
in  our  thought  and  life,  the  more  sure  we 
are  of  the  glory  that  he  came  to  set  before 
us. 

Thus  in  every  way  is  Christ  in  us  the 
hope  of  glory.  Whether  apprehended 
within  us  as  a  living  principle,  or  appre- 
hended by  us  as  a  historical  fact;  in  the 
former  view  persuading  us  of  our  own  im- 
mortal destiny,  of  God's  unspeakably 
precious  fatherhood  to  us,  of  his  own  sure 


24  THE  HOPE  OF  GLORYi 

Kingdom  of  truth  and  love;  in  the  latter 
view  establishing  these  concentrated  hopes 
on  the  sure  foundation  of  a  faultless  char- 
acter, the  peerless  gem  of  all  human  his- 
tory. 

Let  us  now  recur  to  the  apostle  Paul 
and  his  thought.  He  has  spoken  of  his  joy 
in  proclaiming  to  the  Gentiles  this  Christ 
in  them  the  hope  of  glory.  Observe  how 
this  joy  seems  to  show  itself  in  what  im- 
mediately follows  our  text:  **Whom  we 
preach,  warning  every  man,  and  teaching 
every  man  in  all  wisdom,  that  we  may  pre- 
sent every  man  perfect  in  Christ."  Yes; 
no  doubt  his  great  soul  was  stirred  within 
him  at  the  thought  that  it  was  his  privilege 
to  announce  to  his  fellowmen  a  hope  like 
this.  Did  he  not  feel  that  it  was  the  highest 
and  noblest  of  all  things  men  could  do,  to 
tell  with  all  the  earnestness  of  his  nature 
how  they  might  be  the  possessors  of  this 
hope  ?  Ah !  yes,  it  was  a  delight  to  him  to 
preach  this  Christ  the  hope  of  glory,  yet  he 
failed  not  to  be  impressed  also  with  the  ear- 
nest labor  necessary  for  even  so  delightful 
a  work.  He  speaks  here  of  warning  and 
teaching  every  man,  he  tells  elsewhere  of 
his  tears  and  prayers  and  labors  for  the 


THE  HOPE  OF  GLORY  25 

promulgation  of  this  gospel.  Furthermore, 
he  deeply  felt  the  awful  responsibility  thus 
resting  on  him  and  cried  out  in  conscious 
weakness,  *'Who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things?"  But  the  secret  of  his  power,  and 
of  his  calm  assurance  of  a  noble  success  he 
tells  us  in  this,  ''I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  which  strengtheneth  me."  Also  in 
almost  every  letter  is  expressed  his  craving 
for  the  sympathy,  cooperation  and  prayers 
of  his  brethren— ''Pray  for  us,  that  the 
word  may  have  free  course  and  be  glori- 
fied." And  thousands  of  Christ's  heralds 
since  Paul  have  felt— perhaps  not  so  deep- 
ly, but  yet  have  felt  as  he  did— the  sub- 
lime joy  and  the  weighty  care  of  preaching 
Christ,  having  in  them,  too,  that  trust  in 
Christ  and  leaning  on  the  brethren  which 
he  had.  God  help  them  ever  so  to  feel,  this 
being  their  life-aim— "  Christ  in  you  the 
hope  of  glory!" 


II 

FRIENDSHIP 

And  Jonathan,  Saul's  son,  arose,  and  went  to  David  Into  the 
wood,  and  strengthened  his  hand  in  God.     1  Samuel  23 :  16. 

FRIENDSHIP  is  one  of  the  God-like 
things  in  humanity.  Human  nature 
shows  like  God  when  it  is  kind,  for 
God  is  love.  Everybody  who  is  worth 
while  has  friends.  Surely,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  sorrowful  things  in  this  world  to  be 
friendless.  How  do  we  regard  our  friends, 
and  how  do  our  friends  regard  us?  How 
many  friends  have  we?  To  how  many  are 
we  friends! 

Let  us  think  together  of  the  sweetness 
and  preciousness  and  the  character  of 
friendship.  It  has  been  the  theme  of  poets 
who  have  sung  of  it  in  beautiful  terms,  of 
philosophers  who  have  discoursed  about  it 
in  wise  and  strong  ways,  of  essayists  who 
have  written  of  it  in  beautiful  language. 
But  it  is  not  to  literature  nor  to  philosophy 
that  we  look  for  the  right  description  of 
friendship.    If  we  ourselves  do  not  know 

26 


FRIENDSHIP  27 

what  it  is,  and  cannot  tell  by  our  own 
knowledge  of  one  another  what  friendship 
is,  no  one  else  can  tell  us  by  definition  or 
essay. 

Friendship  must  have  two  sides.  It  is 
not  always  equal,  but  it  must  be  mutual. 
You  cannot  think  of  a  one-sided  friendship. 
However,  always,  or  nearly  always,  in 
friendship,  one  gives  more  than  the  other. 
We  have  grades  of  friends.  We  have  cir- 
cles of  friends.  We  speak  of  our 
* 'friends"  in  a  general  way.  When  people 
are  kindly  disposed  towards  us  and  we  are 
kindly  disposed  toward  them,  we  say  that 
we  have  friends.  But  we  draw  a  line  nearer 
than  that  and  talk  about  our  ''particular 
friends."  We  draw  the  circle  closer  still 
and  talk  about  our  "intimate  friends." 
There  are  some  to  whom  we  give  the  utmost 
of  our  confidence  and  keep  nothing  back. 
Then  we  may  go  even  beyond  that.  There, 
perhaps,  are  one  or  two  who  are  more  than 
intimate.  Sometimes  it  happens  that  they 
are  our  other  selves.  It  is  this  close  and 
profound  and  loving  tie  that  we  especially 
have  in  mind  when  we  speak  of  friendship 
in  the  most  emphatic  way.  We  think  of 
Damon  and  Pythias,  of  David  and  Jona- 


28  FRIENDSHIP. 

than.  We  mention  these  as  cases  of  special 
self-sacrificing  friendship.  It  is  this  friend- 
ship of  David  and  Jonathan  that  gives  the 
suggestion  that  I  desire  to  follow  out  in  our 
talk  tonight. 

Friendship  like  this  must  be  founded  in 
mutual  admiration.  We  sometimes  say  of 
certain  people  that  they  form  ''a  mutual 
admiration  society,"  by  way  of  criticism. 
But  after  all  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth 
in  this  statement.  There  can  be  no  friend- 
ship without  mutual  admiration.  We  can 
love  people  that  we  do  not  admire.  For 
myself,  I  am  thankful  that  I  do  not  have  to 
like  everybody  that  I  love.  There  must 
be  something  to  admire.  There  has  got  to 
be  mutual  admiration.  That  was  certainly 
so  of  David  and  Jonathan.  When  David 
came  back  from  his  triumph,  when  he  had 
slain  the  Philistine  and  stood  before  Saul 
with  nothing  but  his  shepherd's  tunic  about 
him,  armed  with  the  simple  sling  and 
smooth  stones, — as  he  stood  there  mute 
before  King  Saul,  the  Scripture  tells  us 
that  *'the  soul  of  Jonathan  was  knit  with 
the  soul  of  David  and  he  loved  him  as  his 
own  soul."  Whyf  Because  he  admired 
him.    And  this  soul  of  splendid  young  man- 


FRIENDSHIP  29 

hood  went  out  and  grasped  with  a  tie  death 
could  not  break  the  soul  of  another  man. 
Brave  spirits  they  were  which  recognized 
that  spirit  of  manhood  each  in  the  other. 
Jonathan  was  great  in  himself, — a  man  that 
feared  not  the  face  of  others,  that  braved 
his  father's  wrath  for  his  friend's  sake, 
yet  was  loyal  to  him  through  all.  .Jonathan 
saw  that  beautiful  thing  of  superior  man- 
hood and  courage  in  David  and  he  loved 
him  as  his  own  soul. 

Then  another  thing.  In  true  friendship 
there  must  be  not  only  mutual  admiration 
but  mutual  confidence.  We  must  trust  each 
other,  and  so  David  and  Jonathan  fully 
trusted  each  other.  David  would  trust  his 
reputation  in  Jonathan's  hands.  David 
knew  that  he  could  depend  on  his  friend  to 
protect  him  even  against  his  father.  He 
knew  that  he  had  a  friend  in  court  when 
Jonathan  was  there.  Jonathan  would  see 
justice  done  and  he  trusted  him  not  in  vain. 
On  the  other  hand,  Jonathan  absolutely 
trusted  David.  He  had  no  doubt  whatever 
that  David  would  perform  to  the  fullest  the 
vow  that  he  made.  And  he  said  to  him, 
*'When  thou  art  king,  and  there  are  any 
of  mine  left,  be  thou  true  and  faithful.    He 


30  FRIENDSHIP 

took  the  oath  of  God  that  he  would." 
There  was  perfect  trust  between  these  two. 
Friendship  requires  mutual  sacrifice. 
That  is  not  friendship  in  which  both  parties 
do  not  give  up  something,  in  which  both 
parties  are  not  willing  to  surrender  some- 
thing. There  is  a  curious  thing  about 
David.  You  will  notice  it  all  his  life.  He 
was  one  of  those  exceedingly  winsome  oc- 
casional characters  which  we  meet  that  al- 
ways seem  to  get  more  than  they  give.  He 
had  that  attractive  quality  that  makes  peo- 
ple willing  to  give.  Why  when  he  was 
thirsty  one  day  and  longed  for  a  drink  of 
water  just  after  a  battle,  he  said,  * '  Oh,  that 
one  would  give  me  water  to  drink  of  the 
well  of  Bethlehem.'*  [A.nd  three  mighty 
men  broke  through  the  hosts  of  the  enemy 
and  brought  him  water  from  the  well  of 
sacred  memories.  He  was  a  man  for  whom 
people  would  do  things  like  that.  All  his 
life  he  was  like  that.  Joab  and  the  others 
about  him  would  not  let  him  go  out  and 
fight  in  his  old  age.  David  got  more ;  Jon- 
athan gave  more.  That  was  what  made  the 
beauty  of  Jonathan's  love.  It  was  his  self- 
giving. 


FKIENDSHIP  31 

Again,  we  must  remember  that  friend- 
ship necessarily  has  its  emotional  side.  It 
means  affection.  It  means  tenderness. 
That  is  one  reason  why  we  ought  to  cherish 
friendship.  When  men  grow  callous  and 
hard-hearted  and  indifferent  and  unemo- 
tional, they  need  the  ministry  of  friendship. 
I  do  not  like  a  man  that  cannot  cry.  It 
does  me  good  sometimes  to  see  a  man  who 
can  sob  with  emotion.  A  man  w^ho  has  lost 
the  faculty  of  tenderness  is  not  the  best 
person  in  the  world  to  deal  with.  I  would 
not  trust  a  man  that  never  could  weep. 
David  was  the  more  emotional  of  the  two. 
Yet  we  must  remember  how  David  said,  in 
lamenting  Jonathan's  death,  *'Thy  love  to 
me  was  wonderful,  passing  the  love  of 
women."  In  one  of  the  interviews  of  these 
friends,  when  they  had  sworn  their  dying 
friendship  to  each  other,  it  is  said  that  they 
wept  upon  each  other's  shoulders  ''until 
David  exceeded."  When  you  read  the 
Psalms  of  David,  you  will  see  what  a  wealth 
of  tenderness  was  in  his  soul.  And  so  there 
was  a  warmth  of  affection  and  love  and 
tenderness  that  existed  between  the  two. 

Friendship  is  not  merely  emotional,  but 
action  in  moral  sentiment  and  service.    A 


32  FKIENDSHIP 

friendship  that  does  nothing  for  a  friend 
is  not  a  friendship  worth  while.  There 
must  not  only  be  self -giving  in  the  loyalty 
of  loving  affection,  but  self -giving  in  the 
sacrifice  of  service.  And  these  men  gave 
that  to  each  other.  There  was  nothing  that 
David  had  that  he  was  not  willing  to  give 
Jonathan.  There  was  nothing  that  Jona- 
than had  that  he  was  not  willing  and  glad 
to  give  David.  When  he  first  saw  David, 
he  had  no  clothes  to  speak  of,  no  imple- 
ments of  war,  naught  but  the  sling  and  the 
stones  of  the  brook.  Jonathan  stripped 
himself  of  his  own  garments  and  placed 
them  upon  his  friend.  How  he  stood  by 
when  in  anger  and  jealousy  Saul  assailed 
David  and  drove  him  out  in  the  wilderness ! 
And  through  each  succeeding  attack  upon 
David  in  court,  .Jonathan  was  the  staunch 
friend,  supporter,  champion.  A  man  who 
will  stand  by  his  friend  in  his  absence  is  a 
friend  worth  while.  When  David  was  yon- 
der banished  with  only  some  few  compan- 
ions besides  the  armed  men  he  had,  with 
his  life  in  his  own  hand,  comes  this  state- 
ment of  the  text:  ''And  Jonathan,  Saul's 
son,  arose,  and  went  to  David  into  the 
wood,  and  strengthened  his  hand  in  God.*' 


FRIENDSHIP  33 

It  is  the  man  that  comes  into  the  wood, 
it  is  the  man  that  comes  in  the  hour  of 
trial,  it  is  the  man  that  comes  when  others 
go  out,  it  is  the  man  that  comes  when  we 
need  him  most  that  is  our  friend.  The  high- 
est deed  of  friendship  is  to  arrive  upon  the 
scene  when  you  are  most  needed.  When 
David  was  in  the  wood,  outcast,  alone, 
broken-hearted,  Jonathan  came  to  him  in 
the  wood  and  ''strengthened  his  hand  in 
God."  The  man  that  comes  to  you  in  the 
hour  of  trial  to  strengthen  and  help  you 
knows  and  meets  the  need  of  friendship. 
He  does  not  send  you  a  message  or  a  check, 
but  comes;  you  do  not  want  messages  at 
such  times.  You  appreciate  them  in  a  way, 
but  there  is  something  lacking.  You  do  not 
care  for  his  financial  help,  you  want  the 
man  himself.  "When  you  want  the  sym- 
pathetic hand-grasp,  when  you  want  the 
tremulous  lip, — these  are  the  times  when 
nothing  else  will  do  for  friendship  but  the 
friend  himself. 

Someone  has  said  that  there  is  nothing 
which  moves  the  heart  like  the  approach 
of  a  friend.  There  is  a  mutual  conscious 
attraction,  an  enhancement  of  feeling.  It 
is  as  the  approach  of  magnet  and  iron,  as 


34  FRIENDSHIP 

the  coalescing  of  points  of  light  into  a 
warmer  and  fuller  glow.  Sometimes 
nothing  needs  to  be  said  or  done.  My 
friend  comes !  that  itself  suffices.  It  tells 
me  more  than  words  can  say ;  it  counts  for 
more  than  money  can  buy.  Yet  this  need 
not  mean  the  failure  of  words  nor  the 
omission  of  deeds;  for  with  himself  the 
friend  may  also  bring  a  gift. 

Notice  what  this  gift  of  friendship  was. 
Jonathan  strengthened  David's  hand  in 
God.  What  did  he  bring  to  his  friend? 
Something  to  eat?  News  of  other  friends? 
Perhaps;  but  the  thing  most  needed  he 
brought  was  that  he  strengthened  his  hand 
in  God.  The  highest  gift  of  friendship  is 
to  give  to  our  friend  a  new  grip  on  God. 
This  is  more  than  earthly  friendship,  more 
than  affection's  kindly  words,  more  than 
admiration's  finest  compliments.  The  man 
who  helps  me  to  God  is  the  best  friend  I 
can  have.  The  man  who  strengthens  my 
faith  in  the  time  of  my  deepest  need  is  in- 
deed my  friend.  And  so  on  the  other  hand 
I  am  best  friend  to  another  when  I  help 
him  to  renew  and  strengthen  his  grasp 
upon  God.  The  sweetest  friendship  in  this 
world  is  the  friendship  that  brings  the 


FKIENDSHIP  35 

friend  to  the  Great  Friend.  For  a  man  to 
claim  to  be  another  man 's  friend  and  drag 
that  man  to  hell  is  awful  travesty  and  trag- 
edy. You  are  not  a  friend  to  the  man  whom 
you  debauch,  and  the  man  who  would  lead 
you  astray  from  paths  of  virtue  is  your 
worst  enemy.  The  man  who  grasps  your 
hand  and  strengthens  you  in  God  is  the 
best  friend  you  have  in  this  world.  When 
you  need  a  saviour,  a  man  who  can  bring 
you  up  out  of  the  dark,  that  man  is  your 
friend.  But  it  is  a  travesty  upon  the  name 
of  friendship  when  friends  drag  their 
friends  to  evil.  Long  years  ago  when  I 
was  a  college  boy,  young  and  small,  and 
easily  teased  and  bothered,  I  had  some 
friends  that  were  not  very  good  fellows  in 
many  ways.  They  were  *  *  bad  boys, "  as  we 
say.  One  day  when  some  of  the  others 
were  saying  unkind  things  to  me,  and  I  had 
as  much  as  I  could  stand  of  it,  and  my  lips 
began  to  quiver  and  my  eyes  to  flash  and, 
somehow  it  seemed  that  I  could  endure  no 
more,  there  was  a  great  big  six-footer 
standing  by  who  laid  his  hand  on  the  fellow 
by  me  and  said,  **  Jake,  you  have  got  to  let 
Ned  alone,  or  you  can  settle  with  me."  The 
man  that  helps  you  to  God,  that  stands  by 


36  FRIENDSHIP 

you  when  your  virtue  is  tried,  that  stands 
by  you  when  you  are  tempted  to  evil,  that 
man  is  your  friend, — the  man  who  comes 
to  you  in  the  woods  and  strengthens  your 
hand  in  God.  The  kind  of  friendship  we 
ought  to  show  is  to  help  our  friends  to  be 
better  than  they  are,  not  by  criticism,  but 
by  kindness.  The  truest  friend  is  the  friend 
who  helps  us  in  the  way  of  righteousness, 
in  the  way  of  salvation. 

That  brings  us  to  speak  of  the  Great 
Friend.  Jesus  allowed  himself  to  be  called 
the  Friend  of  Sinners. 

Plunged  in  a  gulf  of  dark  despair, 

We  wretched  sinners  lay, 
Without  one  cheerful  beam  of  hope, 

Or  spark  of  glimmering  day. 

With  pitying  eyes  the  Prince  of  grace 

Beheld  our  helpless  grief; 
He  saw,  and,  O,  amazing  love! 

He  flew  to  our  relief. 

Down  from  the  shining  seats  above, 

With  joyful  haste  he  fled, 
Entered  the  grave  in  mortal  flesh. 

And  dwelt  among  the  dead. 

O  for  this  love,  let  rocks  and  hills 

Their  lasting  silence  break, 
And  all  harmonious  human  tongues 

The  Saviour's  praises  speak. 


FRIENDSHIP  37 

He  came  into  our  woods  and  strength- 
ened our  hands  in  God.  He  came  when 
there  was  no  hand  to  help  and  raised  us  up 
out  of  our  despair  and  put  a  new  song  into 
our  mouths,  even  praises  unto  our  God. 
He  is  our  Friend.  What  a  Friend  we  have 
in  Jesus!  Brother,  is  he  your  Friend? 
And  are  you  his  friend!  Have  you  joined 
in  friendship  with  Christ  and  accepted  the 
hand  reached  down  for  your  help  and  made 
him  your  Friend?  0,  may  God  help  us  to 
be  the  right  kind  of  friends  to  each  other, 
and  to  form  and  cherish  in  our  hearts  the 
proper  return  for  the  infinite  and  perfect 
friendship  of  the  Friend  of  Sinners! 


ni 


THE  STOEY  OF  TWO  FKIENDS  AND 
[Ai  FEIEND 


Again  the  next  day  after  John  stood,  and  two  of  his  dis- 
ciples ; 

And  looking  upon  Jesus  as  he  walked,  he  saith,  Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God ! 

And  the  two  disciples  heard  him  speak,  and  they  followed 
Jesus. 

Then  Jesus  turned,  and  saw  them  following,  and  saith  unto 
them.  What  seek  ye?  They  said  unto  him,  Rabbi,  (which  is  to 
say,  being  interpreted.  Master,)  where  dwellest  thou? 

He  saith  unto  them.  Come  and  see.  They  came  and  saw 
where  He  dwelt,  and  abode  with  Him  that  day :  for  it  was 
about  the  tenth  hour. 

One  of  the  two  which  heard  John  speak,  and  followed  Him, 
was  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother. 

He  first  findeth  his  own  brother  Simon  and  saith  unto  him. 
We  have  found  the  Messlas,  which  is,  being  interpreted,  the 
Christ. 

And  he  brought  him  to  Jesus.  And  when  Jesus  beheld  him, 
He  said.  Thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  Jona :  thou  shalt  be  called 
Cephas,  which  is  by  interpretation,  A  stone.    John  1 :  35-42. 

10NG  ago,  in  one  of  the  world's  most 
important  ages  and  in  one  of  the 
most  notable  lands  that  have  figured 
in  human  story,  on  the  banks  of  a  historic 
river  a  great  crowd  of  people  was  gathered. 
The  center  of  interest  and  attractive  force 
that  brings  this  great  multitude  together 
is  a  man.   He  was  a  prophet  after  the  order 

38 


TWO  FKIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND    39 

of  Elijah.  He  was  the  new  Elijah.  Rough, 
coarsely  clad,  uncourtly,  but  strong  in  ac- 
tion and  tremendous  in  speech,  he  com- 
pelled attention  and  drew  the  eager  attend- 
ance of  vast  and  deeply  interested  hearers. 
He  was  no  flatterer.  He  lashed  the  crowd 
for  their  sins,  sparing  none.  Kings,  sol- 
diers, officials,  scholars,  traders,  laborers, 
peasants,  loiterers — all  received  due  atten- 
tion in  his  fiery  utterances. 

One  day,  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  the 
great  popular  preacher  discerned  the  ap- 
proaching figure  of  a  young  kinsman  of  his 
own,  whom,  if  he  had  known  at  all,  he  knew 
only  as  a  boy  and  youth  of  humble  place  and 
common  occupation.  Now,  however,  a  di- 
vine intimation,  unmistakable  and  power- 
ful, leads  him  to  recognize  in  this  peasant 
young  man  the  unique  personality  of  all 
time ;  the  promised  Redeemer  of  mankind. 
So  moved  and  instructed  he  acclaims  him 
as  ''The  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world. ' ' 

This  strange,  impressive  salutation  falls 
upon  the  listening  ears  of  two  young  men 
who  already  had  accepted  the  popular 
preacher  as  the  true  prophet  of  God;  the 
new  Elijah,  promised  of  old.     Naturally, 


40    TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND 

therefore,  his  unhesitating  recognition  at 
once  drew  their  most  intense  interest  to  the 
young  man  so  wondronsly  acclaimed.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  a  friendship  so  fine 
and  fruitful  that  its  issues  became  and 
abide  the  cherished  spiritual  heritage  of 
mankind  forevermore.  Modestly  told  by 
one  of  them,  without  even  naming  himself, 
the  story  of  a  great  spiritual  life  and  influ- 
ence here  begins.  The  other  of  the  two 
likewise  was  attracted  and  won  to  faith  and 
friendship.  He  had  a  brother  beloved — a 
brother  bold,  intelligent,  active;  his  own 
superior  in  qualities.  Full  of  his  new- 
found joy,  he  goes  to  find  that  brother  that 
he  too  may  share  the  rising  hopes  of  his 
friend  and  himself.  Quickly  he  returns  to 
the  presence  of  the  new  Teacher  with  pur- 
pose to  introduce  his  brother.  But  with 
that  marvelous  insight  characteristic  of  the 
great  Teacher,  he  needs  no  introduction, 
but  discerns  at  once  the  character  and  qual- 
ity of  the  man  brought  by  a  brother's  love 
to  find  the  best  friend.  Greeted  with  a 
subtle  spiritual  recognition,  this  new  ar- 
rival is  accepted  and  placed.  He  is  a  rock. 
Surprised  and  wondering,  he  too  finds  what 
the  others  had  discovered.    Here  then  that 


TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND    41 

day  by  the  riverside  these  three  find  each 
other — two  friends  and  the  Friend.  Hence- 
forth their  lives  are  twined  in  a  common 
love  and  service.  They  had  almost  certain- 
ly known  each  other  for  years.  They  fol- 
lowed the  same  business  as  fishermen  upon 
the  lake  whereon  their  home  towns  were 
situated.  It  is  often  so  that  friends  and  as- 
sociates in  some  unexpected  and  sudden  oc- 
casion find  each  other  afresh,  and  fuse  into 
a  spiritual  friendship  acquaintance  and  es- 
teem which  had  grown  out  of  previous  as- 
sociation. Friendship  between  two  may  be 
raised,  purified,  assured  by  the  forming  of 
a  higher  friendship  with  a  third. 

The  story  of  this  triple  friendship  need 
not  be  told  in  full.  Some  of  its  more  strik- 
ing events,  familiar  as  they  are,  may  well 
engage  our  thought  afresh,  and  keep  be- 
fore our  minds  the  beauty  and  value  of 
friendship  among  good  men.  The  two 
friends  and  their  new  Friend  met  at  a  wed- 
ding. It  is  a  festive  social  occasion  where 
fittingly  the  three  young  men  find  place 
and  pleasure.  A  wonderful  thing  occurs. 
The  new  Friend,  applied  to  by  his  mother, 
when  for  some  reason  the  wine  fell  short, 
supplied  the  lack  by  miraculous  power, 


42    TWO  FEIENDS  AND  A  FEIEND 

turning  the  supply  of  water  into  the  cus- 
tomary light  wine,  used  upon  such  an  oc- 
casion. All  who  witnessed  this  act  of  cre- 
ative power  must  have  been  smitten  with 
wonder  and  admiration.  Surely  these  two 
friends  found  here  their  faith  confirmed, 
and  their  spiritual  perception  and  accept- 
ance of  their  new  Friend  justified.  Leav- 
ing out  the  others,  we  can  imagine  how  the 
two  friends  talked  over  together  the  won- 
drous thing  they  had  seen,  and  the  words 
of  which  no  record  remains,  but  which  must 
have  been  spoken  in  the  conversations 
among  them. 

How  many  days  and  weeks  may  have 
elapsed  before  the  next  scene  in  the  lives  of 
these  three  occurs  we  do  not  know,  but  the 
two  friends  had  gone  back  to  their  business 
as  fishermen  upon  the  lake.  How  they  had 
discussed  in  all  its  bearing  the  growth  of 
that  acquaintance  and  friendship!  They 
were  waiting  for  the  quickening  of  friend- 
ship into  service  and  to  fuller  friendship. 
Nor  did  they  wait  long.  One  day  while  they 
are  busy  with  their  nets  the  Friend  comes 
along  the  well-known  shore  and  summons 
them,  one  after  another,  to  leave  their  busi- 
ness and  their  toil  and  be  his  friends  and 


TWO  FKIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND     43 

associates  in  his  ministry  of  good  to  the 
world.  Quickly  and  decisively  they  accept 
this  great  call,  and  follow  from  now  nntil 
the  end  of  life  the  mighty  Friend.  Others 
too  are  called  into  the  circle,  but  these  two 
especially  stand  out  as  the  closest  friends 
of  their  Teacher.  With  one  other,  they  form 
a  group  of  special  intimates,  who  are  priv- 
ileged to  witness  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant and  significant  events  in  the  life 
of  their  Teacher.  Once  they  stand  as  sol- 
emn witnesses  when  the  dead  girl  is  raised 
to  life  and  restored  to  her  father;  at  an- 
other time  they  wonderingly  behold,  on  a 
mountain  top,  the  transfiguration  appear- 
ance of  their  Master,  in  company  with  the 
Lawgiver  and  the  Prophet  of  the  ancient 
time;  and,  once  more,  these  witness,  at  a 
little  distance,  the  greatest  agony  and  per- 
sonal sorrow  of  their  wondrous  Friend. 
Great  experiences  passed  through  together 
welded  friendship  into  an  unbreakable 
bond,  so  these  two  intimates  stand  out 
above  the  rest  in  the  special  privilege  and 
influence  of  such  scenes. 

In  their  association  and  activity  one  of 
these  friends  represents  leadership  and  the 
other  love.    Not  that  these  were  theii:s  ex- 


44    TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND 

clusively,  but  that  by  the  special  quality  of 
each  this  kind  of  distinction  is  justified. 
One  is  always  mentioned  first  in  the  group 
of  associates  and  stands  out  in  the  narra- 
tive as  spokesman  for  the  rest.  Leader- 
ship is  necessary  in  any  group  of  active 
workers.  And  so,  to  one  of  these  two 
friends  that  place  naturally  falls.  Doubt- 
less many  a  time  in  the  life  and  work  of 
these  men  there  came  occasions  when  that 
leadership  must  have  asserted  itself.  Cer- 
tainly there  are  two  great  occasions  when 
this  strong  friend  spoke  out  his  soul,  and 
in  so  doing  stood  for  what  his  colleagues 
felt  and  owned.  Once  when  the  Teacher 
desired  to  know  what  was  the  opinion  of 
men  concerning  himself,  and  what  was  their 
more  intimate  conviction  concerning  him, 
the  leader  of  the  group  unhesitatingly  as- 
serts their  firm  acceptance  of  his  highest 
claims  to  their  faith  and  loyalty.  And  on 
another  occasion,  when  some  failed  to  meet 
the  test  of  his  teachings  and  were  going 
back,  again  this  noble  leader  for  himself 
and  the  rest  declares  their  unswerving  pur- 
pose to  come  with  him  to  the  end,  because 
in  him  alone  were  found  the  words  of  eter- 
nal life.    To  the  heart  of  the  great  Teacher 


TWO  FEIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND    45 

these  expressions  of  loyalty  were  the 
tokens  of  a  friendship  at  once  human  and 
divine,  springing  out  of  personal  loyalty, 
but  reaching  to  the  heights  of  spiritual  fel- 
lowship and  devotion.  How  truly  and  in- 
tensely the  other  friend  entered  into  these 
declarations  we  may  take  for  granted,  for 
love  and  loyalty  are  one. 

No  human  friendship  is  without  its  flaws. 
These  were  not  faultless  men,  and  their 
friendship  lacked  some  elements  of  perfec- 
tion. The  friend  who  stood  for  leadership 
sometimes  presumed  upon  his  position. 
Once,  unbidden  and  rude,  he  broke  into  the 
retirement  for  prayer  of  his  beloved 
Teacher.  How  strange  it  is  that  even 
friendship  sometimes  fails  in  the  delicate 
perceptions  that  mean  so  much  for  sensitive 
spiritual  natures.  The  hour  of  prayer  dis- 
turbed by  a  thoughtless  friend,  who  thought 
he  had  a  right  to  intrude !  So  often  are  we 
reminded  that  * '  evil  is  wrought  by  want  of 
thought  as  well  as  by  want  of  heart. ' '  Still 
worse,  the  leader  was  betrayed  into  pre- 
sumption when  he  undertook  to  tell  his 
Lord  what  he  ought  to  do  and  not  to  do. 
Sometimes  a  friend  to  a  great  man  forgets 
his  proper  place,  and  intrudes  with  sugges- 


46    TWO  FKIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND 

tions  or  advice,  wrong  in  themselves  and 
presumptuous  when  set  forth  as  duty  to 
one  who  knows  his  duty  without  being  told 
by  an  inferior.  Such  criticisms  are  a  blot 
on  friendship,  and  the  greatest  Friend  of 
all  was  not  immune  from  friendship's  mis- 
taken zeal.  But  the  patient  Master  knew 
how  to  understand  and  forgive  such  faults 
even  for  friendship's  sake.  Nay,  he  knew 
how  to  be  charitable  and  merciful  to  even 
greater  lapses  than  these. 

The  other  friend,  the  one  who  stands  for 
love,  also  made  his  mistakes.  This  was  he 
who  was  especially  the  object  of  the  great 
Friend's  love,  and  perhaps  the  most  con- 
genial spirit  in  all  the  circle  of  friendship. 
And  yet  he,  of  all  others,  displayed  on  three 
occasions  the  temper  and  spirit  most  oppo- 
site to  love.  It  was  he  who,  narrow  and 
intolerant  and  jealous,  forbade  those  out- 
side the  circle  to  help  the  Master's  work. 
It  was  he  who,  because  of  a  slight  put  upon 
his  beloved  Master,  would  have  called  down 
fire  from  heaven  to  destroy  the  offending 
community.  It  was  he  who,  along  with  his 
brother,  made  selfish  demands  for  himself, 
and  sought  at  the  hands  of  his  Lord  a  place 
of  distinction   and  authority  among  his 


TWO  FKIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND    47 

brethren.  So  friendship  sometimes  fails 
in  its  recognition  of  the  spirit  of  the  truest 
friend.  Want  of  congeniality  is  a  pain 
where  friendship  is  closest.  So  we  cannot 
wonder  at  the  Master's  stern  rebuke,  even 
of  his  closest  friend. 

We  look  with  reverent  eyes  upon  the  last 
gathering,  in  a  social  way,  of  the  group  of 
friends  in  which  the  central  Person  and 
these  two  intimates  were  the  leading  fig- 
ures. Love  leaned  its  head  on  friendship's 
bosom,  giving,  in  an  hour  of  deep  grief  and 
trial,  that  human  touch  of  tenderness  so 
needed  then.  Leadership,  alas,  mistakenly, 
now  asserted  its  profession  of  undying  loy- 
alty and  devotion,  so  soon  to  be  shamed. 
In  that  trying  and  solemn  interview,  these 
two  men,  and  their  characteristic  traits 
stood  out  among  the  rest. 

Friendship  failed  when  these  two,  and 
one  other,  witnessed  at  a  little  distance  the 
bitter  agony  of  the  greatest  soul  of  human 
story.  How  strange  it  seems  that  friends 
should  have  slept  while  the  Friend  bore  his 
weightiest  load  of  personal  grief  and  lone- 
liness. Of  so  pathetic  a  failure  in  human 
friendship  we  can  only  say  it  was  part  of 


48    TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FEIEND 

the  price  that  had  to  be  paid  for  human 
sin. 

Events  move  on.  The  Master  is  betrayed 
and  led  to  his  trial.  The  leader  rashly 
draws  the  sword,  and  is  rebuked.  Then, 
under  reaction,  becomes  fearful,  and  fol- 
lows afar  off.  Leadership  falters — love 
stands.  The  other  friend  goes  in,  and,  by 
some  influence,  obtains  for  his  comrade  en- 
trance into  the  hall  where  their  great 
Friend  is  to  be  tried.  Love  is  there,  but 
silent  and  unmentioned.  Leadership  is 
there,  and  breaks  down.  The  severest  test 
of  loyalty  comes  and  is  not  met.  What  shall 
we  say  of  a  friend  who  denies  his  friend- 
ship in  the  time  of  utmost  need!  There 
is  no  excuse.  It  was  just  a  failure.  But 
divine  friendship  will  not  lose  a  human 
friend.  In  silent  grief  a  look  suffices. 
Friendship  has  failed,  but  is  not  lost.  Out 
in  the  dark  night  a  broken  heart  goes  to 
realize  its  own  utter  failure,  its  faults  and 
shameful  conduct.  In  that  hour  of  lonely 
darkness,  remorse  and  grief,  friendship, 
though  shaken,  finds  itself  again.  And  on 
the  ruins  of  its  weakness,  will  build  a  firmer 
structure. 


TWO  FKIENDS  AND  A  FKIEND    49 

Leadership  falters,  fails,  but  love  stands. 
The  utmost  penalty  of  sin  is  paid  on  the 
cross.  Love  stands  by  to  watch  with  break- 
ing heart  the  final  scene  of  divine  suffering 
for  human  fault.  Love  receives  a  son's 
bequest,  and  tenderly  shelters  bereft  moth- 
erhood in  its  crowning  sorrow.  0  faithful 
love!  We  cannot  portray  the  events  of 
those  wondrous  three  days.  We  know  not 
where  the  friends  were,  nor  the  details  of 
their  doing,  but  somehow  the  flying,  eager 
feet  of  womanhood  bring  startling  news  of 
an  empty  grave  and  a  risen  Lord.  Leader- 
ship and  love  are  together  again.  Quickly 
they  fly  to  the  spot  where  their  Lord  has 
lain.  Love  outruns  leadership,  but  timidly 
waits  at  the  door  of  the  tomb.  Leadership 
catches  up,  and  asserts  itself  by  entrance. 
Love  follows.  And  these  two  friends  to- 
gether see  the  vacant  spot  where  the  body 
of  their  great  Friend  had  reposed  awhile. 
What  did  they  say  to  each  other  then? 
What  communion  of  friendship  in  that 
place  of  all  others  on  earth  did  these  two 
hearts  renew  and  cement?  Again  the  veil 
of  our  ignorance  falls  on  these  scenes,  until 
one  morning,  while  the  two  friends  had 
gone  back  to  their  daily  toil  on  the  historic 


50    TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND 

lake,  out  on  the  water,  the  eye  of  love  dis- 
cerns a  well-known  form  amid  the  mist 
upon  the  shore.  Love  discovers.  Leader- 
ship at  once  asserts  itself,  and  first  arrives 
upon  the  scene.  'Tis  not  the  empty  grave 
now,  but  the  living  Lord.  In  the  interview 
that  follows  love  is  taken  for  granted,  but 
leadership  needs  a  lesson,  and  that  lesson 
must  be  the  turning  of  leadership  into  love. 
Thrice  the  searching  query,  ''Lovest  thou 
me,"  brings  back  the  subdued  and  shamed 
but  yet  confident  and  triumphant  assertion, 
*'Thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee.'*  Fallen 
friendship,  rebuked  and  chastened,  comes 
to  itself  in  the  assertion  of  its  love,  and 
never  fails  again. 

The  details  of  those  marvelous  days  are 
not  recorded  for  us.  We  know  the  friends 
must  have  had  constant  communication 
with  each  other,  with  their  colleagues,  and 
with  the  great  Friend  himself.  Their  final 
instructions  were  received.  The  whole 
band  witnessed  the  wondrous  and  glorious 
ascension  of  their  Lord,  and  turned  back 
wondering  and  yet  rejoicing  from  the 
mountain  top  to  take  thought  of  duty  and 
the  future.  No  more  the  personal  bodily 
presence  of  the  great  Friend  was  to  be 


TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND    51 

theirs.  But  the  memory  of  those  days  and 
months  of  intimate  friendship  were  their 
priceless  possession.  Along  with  the 
others,  these  two,  who  stood  for  love  and 
leadership,  went  forth  to  their  allotted 
task,  to  win  the  world  to  him  who  loved 
them  with  a  friendship  miutterable,  and 
wished  the  world  to  share  it.  Together 
they  stood  when  leadership  proclaimed  the 
risen  and  saving  Christ  to  Jerusalem's  mul- 
titude. Together  they  went  to  the  Beauti- 
ful Gate  of  the  temple  one  day,  love  and 
leadership,  to  meet  poverty's  distressing 
need,  and  without  silver  or  gold,  to  bestow 
that  which  meant  everything,  even  healing 
and  help  and  health.  This  is  the  last  view 
we  have  of  the  friends  mentioned  together, 
and  very  little  more  do  we  know  of  either. 
One  still  maintained  his  leadership,  and 
among  his  fellow  Christians  exercised  what 
influence  was  rightly  his  in  maintaining 
and  spreading  his  Master's  cause.  Now  led 
to  bring  the  message  of  peace  to  a  Gentile 
home,  now  lifting  back  to  life  a  departed 
saint,  now  leading  in  counsel  among  his 
brethren — he  silently  passes  from  view. 
History  ceases — tradition  begins.  Only 
guesswork    and    inferences    remain,    and 


52    TWO  FKIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND 

these  we  need  not  follow.  Whatever  comes 
out  of  the  mostly  untrustworthy  stories 
which  remain  goes  to  show  the  activity  and 
leadership  in  many  different  places  of  this 
mighty  man  of  God,  at  whose  word  thou- 
sands were  brought  to  know  his  Master  and 
Friend.  His  tributes  in  writing  to  that 
friendship  remain.  If  tradition  be  true,  he 
influenced  largely  one  of  those  who  told  the 
tale  of  the  Christ,  and  in  his  remaining  let- 
ters, among  other  splendid  things,  we  find 
a  word  of  thanks  to  God,  who  renewed  us 
unto  a  living  hope,  unto  an  inheritance  in- 
corruptible and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth 
not  away. 

The  same  obscurity  rests  upon  the  later 
career  of  the  other  friend  who  stood  for 
love.  We  find  him  on  a  lonely  isle,  banished 
for  his  testimony  to  his  Lord.  Messages  to 
some  of  the  churches  are  caught  and  writ- 
ten down.  Flaming  visions  of  conflict  and 
of  victory  for  the  kingdom  of  his  King  are 
given  him  to  see  and  describe.  And  to  his 
rapt  and  glowing  soul,  the  last  glorious 
vision  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  is  shown, 
as  she,  in  her  gem-bedecked  and  glorious 
beauty,  is  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for 


TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND    53 

her  husband.  Love's  look  sees  love's  tri- 
umph. 

Traditions  are  busy  with  this  friend  also. 
They  tell  us  how  he  lived  to  a  great  age, 
and  spent  his  loving  life  in  helpful  deeds  to 
others;  how  he  rescued  a  wandering  lad 
from  sin;  how  the  sterner  side  of  his  na- 
ture flashed  out  against  false  teachers ;  and 
how,  at  last,  triumphant  love  led  the  falter- 
ing footsteps  of  age  and  decay  into  the  as- 
sembly of  saints,  where  he  could  no  longer 
speak  at  length,  but,  compressing  his  whole 
life  into  one  final  exhortation,  he  would 
say,  "Little  children,  love  one  another." 
It  was  fitting  that  his  should  be  the  crown- 
ing gospel  to  tell  of  the  love  of  God  that 
gave  his  only  begotten  to  save  a  sinful 
world.  It  was  fitting  that  his  should  be  the 
pen  to  write  that  finished  definition,  ' '  God 
is  love." 

Two  friends  and  a  Friend:  Peter  and 
John  and  Jesus.  We  know  and  love  them 
well,  but  yet  not  well  enough.  One  teaches 
us  how  friendship,  tried  by  temptation, 
may  fall  and  find  itself  again,  and  last  for- 
ever. The  other  teaches  us  how  love,  in 
spite  of  faults  of  temper  and  of  mind,  may 
triumph.    Both  together  teach  us  how  love 


54    TWO  FRIENDS  AND  A  FRIEND 

and  leadership  unite  to  win  the  world  to  the 
Friend  of  friends,  ''The  Lamb  of  God, 
which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.'* 
This  was  their  first  belief.  This  was  their 
creed  in  life;  and  the  realization  of  this 
has  been  their  joy  in  heaven,  and  is  their 
united  message  to  us.  Under  the  friend- 
ship of  the  great  Friend  our  human  friend- 
ships, to  him  and  to  each  other,  find  at  once 
their  basis  and  their  crown. 

The  Christian  ideal  of  true  friendship 
finds  illustration  and  encouragement  in  the 
story.  Friends  of  the  common  Friend  are 
the  more  closely  drawn  to  each  other  be- 
cause of  that  tie.  The  Christian  of  ad- 
vanced years  and  long  experience  looks 
back  to  the  friendships  of  his  life  with  mel- 
lowing tenderness  and  devout  gratitude. 
How  many  kind  hearts  have  blessed  his  life 
with  their  love !  And  he  looks  forward  to 
the  renewal  and  perpetuation  of  these 
friendships  in  the  life  beyond.  No  small 
part  of  his  "hope  of  glory"  is  that  in  a 
life  where  no  separations  can  dim  its  light, 
no  misunderstandings  can  mar  its  peace, 
no  faults  can  wound  its  joy,  friendship  with 
redeemed  and  perfected  souls  shall  be  his 
forevermore. 


IV 


AN  IDYL  OF  FAITHFULNESS  AND 
LOVE 

And  Ruth  said.  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  to  return 
from  following  after  thee:  for  whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go; 
and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge :  thy  people  shall  he  my 
people,  and  thy  God  my  God.     Ruth  1 :  16. 

IN  the  life  and  growth  of  a  people  into  a 
nation,  struggle  and  strife  are  always 
in  evidence.  The  times  that  try  men's 
souls  must  often  recur  in  the  onward  prog- 
ress of  a  people  toward  settled  government. 
The  history  of  all  nations  that  have  made 
any  history  at  all  affords  frequent  and 
sometimes  very  important  instances  of  this 
law.  Seasons  of  confusion,  unsettled  con- 
ditions and  states  of  society  almost  ap- 
proaching anarchy,  present  themselves  to 
the  student  in  the  progress  of  all  peoples. 
Often  it  happens  that  in  the  midst  of  these 
times  of  turmoil  and  distress,  like  a  shel- 
tered flower  amid  the  storm,  some  incident 
concerning  places  or  persons  occurs  to  re- 
mind us  of  the  more  beautiful  and  peaceful 

55 


56       FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE 

elements  which  enter  into  the  life  of  a  com- 
munity. 

In  the  wonderful  story  of  Israel  such  a 
period  of  disturbance  and  confusion  was 
that  long  and  ill-defined  age  which  followed 
upon  the  settlement  of  the  tribes  in  the 
"Land  of  Promise."  The  wilderness  wan- 
dering was  over.  The  consolidated  mon- 
archy had  not  yet  been  established.  Dis- 
sensions within  and  oppressions  from  with- 
out were  sad  tokens  and  experiences  of  the 
hard  struggle  toward  realizing  the«national 
ideal.  Now  and  then  some  mighty  man, 
and  in  one  case  a  great  woman,  would  be 
called  by  some  crisis  to  rise  and  encourage 
the  distressed  and  loosely  connected  tribes 
to  something  like  a  united  effort  of  patriot- 
ism and  valor  to  rescue  the  imperiled  state. 
It  was  during  this  wild  tumultuous  period 
of  Israel's  life  that  our  story,  like  a  calm 
eddy  in  a  torrent,  arrests  the  sweeping 
progress  of  things  to  fix  attention  upon  the 
serener  and  sweeter  forces  which  must  ever 
mingle  with  the  sterner  ones  in  the  on- 
going of  a  nation's  life. 

A  family  dwelt  near  the  border  of  the 
land.  Father  and  mother  and  two  sons 
lived  the  simple  life  of  rural  people,  gath- 


FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE       57 

ered,  as  tlie  custom  was,  into  villages  or 
towns  for  mutual  protection  and  social 
mingling.  They  were  devout.  God-fearing 
people,  as  most  of  their  kindred  and  neigh- 
bors were.  Untouched,  perhaps  by  the  po- 
litical and  military  storms  of  the  time, 
they  suffered  under  a  calamity  as  great  as 
these.  Famine  smote  the  land.  The  coun- 
try was  not  infrequently  the  subject  of 
these  visitations.  The  crops  failed;  the 
flocks  and  herds  were  diminished ;  distress, 
even  unto  starvation,  menaced  the  families. 
So  this  man,  taking  his  wife  and  two  sons, 
crossed  over  into  the  country  of  the  East, 
where  food  was  more  abundant.  Misfor- 
tune, however,  befell  the  exiles.  The  hus- 
band and  father  died.  The  widow,  left 
with  her  two  sons,  seems  to  have  remained 
a  good  while.  The  natural  result  of  social 
contact  with  the  alien  people,  among  whom 
they  dwelt,  followed,  and  the  two  young 
men  took  them  wives  of  the  daughters  of 
the  land.  Still  misfortune  followed,  and 
soon  the  two  young  men  also  passed  away, 
thus  leaving  three  widows  in  one  home. 
Bye  and  bye  tidings  came  of  improved  con- 
ditions in  the  homeland.  In  God's  good 
providence  the  rains  were  sent  again  to  the 


58       FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOTE 

parched  earth,  and  the  land  was  blessed 
with  fruitage  and  harvests.  The  good 
news  traveled  over  the  border,  and  came  to 
the  lonely  widow's  ears.  Bereft  of  hus- 
band and  sons,  a  stranger  in  a  strange 
land,  it  was  natural  that  she  should  turn 
back  to  the  home  of  her  happier  days. 
Among  her  own  kindred  she  would  go  to 
spend  her  last  years.  She  would  seek  to 
recover,  under  the  laws  so  wisely  provided, 
the  little  inheritance,  which  would  care  for 
her  the  remainder  of  her  life.  Nothing  held 
her  away,  but  everything  called  her  home. 
Leaving  the  ashes  of  her  dead  in  a  foreign 
soil,  with  sad  heart  she  craves  the  company 
at  least  a  part  of  the  way  of  those  two 
young  women  who  had  been  true  and  loving 
daughters  to  her  in  her  exile.  It  is  a  gentle 
picture,  sad,  and  yet  not  devoid  of  tender- 
ness and  hope,  which  these  three  present. 
Walking  slowly  across  the  fields  and  along 
the  roadways,  the  three  come  on  to  the  bor- 
der which  divides  their  native  lands.  Here 
they  must  part.  Good  sense  and  proper 
feeling  shine  out  in  the  good  woman's  deal- 
ing with  the  younger  two.  It  was  not  fair 
to  ask  them  to  leave  their  kindred  and  their 
memories  to  go  with  her  to  what  would  be 


FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE       59 

a  strange  land  to  them  and  a  strange  peo- 
ple, and  with  no  prospect  of  good  support 
or  of  new  ties  of  marriage  and  of  home. 
Wisely  and  kindly  the  aging  mother  bids 
her  daughters-in-law  farewell,  and  urges 
them  from  the  border  to  turn  back  to  their 
own  people.  Surely  it  was  the  kind  and 
sensible  thing  for  her  to  do.  Without  fault 
or  blame  one  of  the  two  younger  women 
accepts  the  suggestion  of  the  elder,  and 
bidding  her  goodbye  goes  back  to  her  own 
home  and  kindred. 

The  younger  of  the  two,  however,  lingers 
still.  Affection  for  the  dead  and  for  the 
sole  survivor  of  that  pious  family  had  got 
the  upper  hand  in  her  heart  and  life  of 
those  older  and  less  religious  ties  which 
bound  her  to  her  own  people.  Into  her 
life,  by  contact  with  these  strangers,  a  new 
hope  had  come.  A  clearer  vision  of  God, 
a  holier  prospect  of  life,  new  ideals  of  liv- 
ing, mingled  with  the  gentle  memories  of 
romance,  and  with  her  abiding  affection  for 
one  so  true  and  good  as  this  elder  woman 
had  shown  herself  to  be.  Loyal  to  the  new 
faith  and  the  better  love  she  gently  but 
firmly  refuses  to  leave  the  lone  but  beloved 
one  who  had  proved  a  mother  indeed  to 


60       FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE 

her.  And  so,  in  language  whicli  has  become 
immortal,  she  put  aside  the  suggestion  of 
return,  and  said,  ' '  Entreat  me  not  to  leave 
thee,  or  to  return  from  following  after 
thee:  for  whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go; 
and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge :  thy 
people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my 
God :  where  thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there 
will  I  be  buried:  the  Lord  do  so  to  me, 
and  more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee 
and  me. ' '  This  beautiful  saying  was  more 
than  the  firm  declaration  of  an  earnest  soul 
of  affection  and  friendship.  It  was  a  de- 
cisive acceptance  of  God,  of  the  true  God, 
of  whom  she  had  learned.  It  is  confirmed 
by  a  form  of  oath  most  solemn  and  strong, 
that  God  would  punish  her  to  the  utter- 
most if  she  failed  or  faltered  in  her  choice. 
This  was  the  high  point  in  the  life  of  this 
lovely  young  woman — the  hour  of  decision 
for  the  earthly  life  and  for  the  life  in  God. 
The  human  affection  mingled  so  sweetly 
with  the  spiritual  consecration  that  they 
became  one  in  her  thought  and  purposes, 
deciding  her  destiny  for  all  time.  God 
smiled  upon  her  choice,  and  held  in  his 
gracious  hand  the  coming  reward  of  serv- 


FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE       61 

ice  and  love  and  renown  which  should  be 
always  her  own. 

Toward  that  coming  realization  the 
events  of  the  story  naturally  unfold.  The 
two  women,  footsore  and  weary,  both  sad, 
and  yet  with  a  secret  joy  in  their  souls,  the 
elder  comforted  by  the  younger 's  faithful- 
ness, and  the  younger  happy  in  her  fixed 
purpose  and  glowing  hopes,  came  at  last 
to  the  old  neighborhood ;  old  it  was  to  the 
mother,  strange  to  the  daughter.  Old 
friends  saluted  her  and  greeted  her  on  her 
return,  calling  her  by  her  sweet  name, 
which  meant  in  the  language  of  the  time, 
** pleasantness."  ''No,"  said  she,  "Call 
me  a  name  that  means  bitterness  instead. 
For  I  went  out  full,  and  I  have  returned 
empty.  Fleeing  from  famine  I  went  with 
husband  and  young  sons.  Coming  back  to 
earthly  plenty  I  came  bereft  of  these,  but 
comforted  by  the  clinging  fondness  of  this 
dear  child,  who  has  left  her  home  to  come 
with  me."  Eecovering  her  home,  or  find- 
ing a  lodging  in  some  friendly  house,  the 
elderly  widow  must  seek  some  means  of 
support  from  the  now  rich  harvests  of  the 
once  smitten  land.  Custom  that  followed 
the  law  of  kindness  imposed  in  the  law  it- 


62       FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE 

self,  made  it  honest  and  expected  that  the 
poor  should  follow  the  harvesters  and 
glean  what  was  left  in  the  fields  of  the  rich. 
These,  divinely  taught  to  use  their  wealth 
for  other's  good,  refrained  from  making 
a  clean  sweep  of  their  fields,  willingly  left 
corners  and  skipped  places  that  gleaners 
might  find.  How  different  this  from  the 
grasping  selfishness  that  too  often  marks 
the  ways  of  mankind.  Across  that  fair 
landscape  the  light  of  this  kindness  shines 
where  the  rich  purposely  made  it  possible 
for  the  poor  to  live.  Nearby,  the  broad 
fields  of  a  wealthy  kinsman  lay,  rich  with 
their  harvest  of  grain.  The  reaping  was 
now  on.  The  wise  mother  had  told  the 
younger  of  this  custom,  and  so  the  younger 
woman  proposed  to  go  forth  and  find  what 
she  might  for  the  food  of  their  little  house- 
hold. And  thus  she  came  into  the  fields  of 
that  wealthy  kinsman,  not  knowing  what 
was  there  in  store  for  her.  There  is  a  sweet 
and  gentle  picture  that  would  attract  the 
genius  of  an  artist  and  the  verbal  skill  of 
a  poet.  Out  from  the  village  near-by,  the 
wealthy  man  comes  to  look  after  the  reap- 
ing of  his  fields.  With  a  kind  religious  sal- 
utation he  greets  the  reapers.    Not  with 


FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE       63 

the  rough  word  of  command,  but  with  the 
blessings  of  God,  and  they  answer  him  in 
kind. 

The  greetings  of  the  day  over,  the 
wealthy  man  sees,  following  the  reapers, 
the  graceful  form  of  this,  as  yet,  stranger. 
Liquiring  who  she  was  he  receives  the  an- 
swer that  it  is  the  girl  who  had  come  back 
with  her  mother-in-law  from  the  strange 
country,  and  had  come  into  these  fields  to 
find  food  for  the  two.  The  man  had  heard 
of  the  return  of  his  kinswoman,  and  of  the 
beautiful,  self  sacrificing  spirit  in  which  the 
stranger  had  come  to  help  make  a  home 
again  for  the  lonely  exile.  Kindly  speaking 
to  the  girl,  the  excellent  gentleman,  for 
that  he  was  indeed,  encouraged  her  to  re- 
main in  his  own  fields  and  glean  all  that 
she  could;  to  come  at  the  luncheon  hour 
and  share  the  bountiful  provision  made  for 
the  workers.  He  strictly  charged  the 
young  men  not  to  be  rude  to  the  modest 
stranger,  and  promised  she  should  not  need 
to  go  to  other  fields  as  long  as  the  harvest 
was  going  on.  It  was  a  bright  scene,  and 
a  beautiful  day  in  her  life.  The  kindness, 
the  protection  and  encouragement  that 
came  from  this  prince  among  men  are  what 


64       FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE 

should  ever  be  the  characteristic  of  the 
wealthy  and  well-disposed  in  the  land.  Un- 
known to  both,  God  was  weaving  the 
strands  of  their  lives  together,  and  out  of 
mutual  respect  and  kindness  it  was  easy 
for  other  things  to  come.  Back  to  the  little 
home  at  eventide  the  beautiful  gleaner 
comes  with  her  apron  filled  with  the  results 
of  her  day's  work,  and  a  portion  also  of  her 
dainty  mid-day  meal,  reserved  for  her 
mother.  On  inquiry  it  appeared  that  she 
had  gleaned  in  the  fields  of  a  kinsman  and 
not  of  a  stranger.  Joy  filled  the  heart  of 
the  lonely  woman  when  she  recognized  in 
this  event  the  good  providence  of  God.  So 
the  invitation  was  accepted,  and  she 
gleaned  throughout  the  harvest  of  barley 
and  of  wheat  in  the  fields  of  this  kind  and 
pious  man. 

Led  by  the  providential  circumstances, 
and  understanding  the  custom  and  law  of 
her  people,  the  older  woman  takes  counsel 
as  to  what  should  be  done.  She  knew,  ac- 
cording to  the  strange  teachings  among 
her  people,  that  it  would  be  the  right  thing, 
and  perhaps  the  duty,  of  this  kinsman  to 
claim  the  widow  of  his  dead  cousin  as  his 
own,  that  so  the  inheritance  of  the  two 


FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE        65 

branches  of  the  family  might  not  be  sun- 
dered, but  welded  together,  and  the  name 
and  inheritance  of  her  own  son  should  not 
pass  away  from  among  his  people.  Medi- 
tating upon  these  things,  and  assured  in 
her  own  mind  that  her  proceeding  was  ac- 
cordant with  the  teachings  of  her  religion 
and  the  customs  of  her  race,  she  counsels 
the  naturally  shrinking,  and  yet  docile  and 
obedient  younger  woman  to  claim  her 
rights. 

To  us,  with  our  different  views  of 
social  proprieties,  there  might  seem  some- 
thing immodest  both  in  the  assertion  of  the 
claim  and  in  the  method  whereby  it  was 
made  known,  but  we  must  be  sure  that  no 
one  of  the  three  parties  to  the  strange  event 
which  followed  would  act  out  of  the  range 
of  perfect  propriety.  So,  as  instructed  by 
her  mother-in-law,  the  gentle  young  woman 
makes  known  in  the  customary  way  her 
claim  upon  a  kinsman's  respect  for  law. 
In  this  trying  interview  the  character  of 
the  man  shines  out  with  that  beauty  which 
marks  it  all  the  way  through.  Perfect  re- 
spect for  the  young  woman  herself,  sym- 
pathy for  her  reluctance  and  modesty,  and 
yet  realization  of  the  rights  of  one  who 


66       FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE 

stood  nearer  than  himself  to  her  all  appear 
in  his  conduct.  But  his  heart  had  been 
won  by  the  beauty,  the  fidelity,  the  dili- 
gence, the  modesty  of  this  gracious  young 
woman.  Readily  he  will  claim  his  rights 
provided  the  prior  claim  of  the  other  kins- 
man can  be  satisfied.  This,  in  accordance 
with  established  custom,  he  promptly  pro- 
ceeds to  do,  and  in  full  irablicity  he  states 
the  case  for  the  young  widow  and  the  in- 
heritance of  the  departed  kinsman.  The 
other  kinsman,  however,  unwilling  to  com- 
plicate the  inheritance  in  his  own  family, 
declines,  and  relinquishes  his  rights  in 
favor  of  his  friend.  So  in  the  providence 
of  God  these  two  admirable  characters  are 
brought  into  that  sacred  relation  of  tender- 
ness and  romance  and  affection,  upon 
which  the  blessing  of  God  rests  in  all  time. 
Happy  at  last  in  the  renewed  peace  of  a 
reestablished  home,  she,  who  had  been  once 
the  lonely  widowed  exile,  looks  with  satis- 
faction and  joy  upon  the  wholesome  and 
happy  domestic  life  of  which  she  becomes  a 
part.  From  this  loving  and  congenial 
union  comes  one  who  was  to  found  in  fu- 
ture times  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  The 
shepherd  and  psalmist  and  king  who  was 


FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE       67 

hereafter  to  reign  over  a  great  and  strong 
nation  was  to  derive  his  ancestry  from 
this  devout  and  loving  couple.  And  far- 
ther still  down  the  long  vista  of  time,  from 
the  mother's  side  one  was  to  come  who 
should  be  "A  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles, 
and  the  glory  of  the  people  of  Israel." 

It  is  no  mistake  to  call  this  gem  of  nar- 
rative literature,  this  faultless  story  of 
Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  **An  idyl  of  faithful- 
ness and  love."  In  all  literature  there  is 
nothing  that  surpasses  it.  The  simplicity 
and  charm  with  which  the  story  is  told,  the 
perfect  naturalness,  the  high  and  fine  in- 
stincts of  Boaz  and  Ruth,  the  human  wis- 
dom and  feeling  of  Naomi,  the  glimpse  of 
their  characters  and  of  interesting  social 
customs,  all  conspire  to  make  of  this  story 
of  the  time  of  the  Judges  one  of  the  best 
loved  tales  of  gentle  romance.  But  after 
all,  to  get  the  real  meaning  of  the  story, 
we  must  look  not  at  its  end,  but  turn  back 
to  its  beginning,  in  that  critical  moment 
when  Ruth  decides  her  destiny  by  accept- 
ing the  God  of  Naomi.  The  turning  point 
in  her  life  was  there.  She  had  learned  of 
the  true  God  and  of  the  promises  made  by 
him  to  the  people  of  Israel.  Resolutely  and 


68       FAITHFULNESS  AND  LOVE 

nobly  slie  gives  her  life,  in  perfect  faith  and 
courage,  to  this  God,  and  follows  whither 
he  leads.  The  incidental  and  human  ele- 
ments cluster  about  this  center.  All  of  her 
life,  with  its  griefs  and  its  joys,  its  loves 
and  its  cares,  center  about  that  decisive 
moment  when  her  soul  gives  itself  up  to 
God.  So  in  our  life  of  today,  whatever 
God's  providence  may  have  in  store  for  us, 
the  critical  moment  is  that  when  we  give 
ourselves  in  sweet  surrender  and  firm  re- 
solve to  Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour  and  our 
Lord.  Have  we  made  that  decision?  If  so, 
it  has  come  to  be  the  center  of  all  our  life's 
experiences,  sweet  or  bitter,  wretched  or 
joyful.  If  we  have  not  made  it,  now  is  the 
hour  and  the  time  when,  like  the  heroine  of 
our  story,  we  should  yield  ourselves  to  God, 
and  cast  our  lot  among  his  people  who 
strive,  amid  the  turmoil  and  the  trials  of 
this  earth,  to  live  the  Christian  life  and  up- 
hold and  spread  the  Christian  faith. 


THE  STORY  OF  A  BEAUTIFUL  GIRL 

WHO  ROSE  TO  A  GREAT 

OCCASION 

Then  Esther  bade  them  return  Mordecal  this  answer; 

Go,  gather  together  all  the  Jews  that  are  present  in  Shu- 
shan,  and  fast  ye  for  me,  and  neither  eat  nor  drink  three  days, 
night  or  day :  I  also  and  my  maidens  will  fast  likewise ;  and 
so  will  I  go  in  unto  the  king,  which  is  not  according  to  the 
law ;    and  if  I  perish,  I  perish.     Esther  4  :  15,  16. 

ONE  of  the  many  striking  features 
of  Israel's  clieckered  and  tragic 
history  is  the  relation  sustained  by 
that  little  country  to  the  great  empires  of 
ancient  times.  The  tiny  kingdom,  in  size 
no  larger  than  our  state  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, lay  on  the  traffic  way  both  by  land 
and  sea.  Though  without  any  great  port, 
it  was  near  enough  to  Tyre  to  count  for 
something  in  the  commercial  world. 
Through  it,  from  Northeast  to  Southwest 
lay  one  of  the  great  highways  of  land  traf- 
fic. Thus  the  promised  land  of  Israel 
played  its  great  part,  out  of  all  proportion 
to   its    size   and   population,    among   the 


70     EOSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

mighty  governments  of  the  ancient  world. 
It  was  a  plaything  between  Egypt,  Assyria 
and  Persia.  It  was  overrun  by  the  con- 
quering Greek,  and  became  a  part  of  Alex- 
ander's  empire,  and  later  it  fell  to  be  a 
pivotal  province  of  mighty  Rome.  Nor 
was  this  worldwide  influence  confined  to  the 
race  in  its  local  habitation.  The  race  it- 
self was  scattered  among  the  ancient  peo- 
ples, sometimes  as  colonists  and  sometimes 
as  captives.  The  strange  history  has  been 
perpetuated,  and  even  to  this  day  the  de- 
scendants of  Israel  are  interfused  among 
all  the  nations  of  the  world,  yet  preserving 
their  race  distinction.  It  is  indeed  a  mar- 
velous history. 

At  the  time  of  our  story  the  Jews  were 
widely  scattered,  one  large  body  of  them 
being  found  at  the  capital  of  the  greatest 
world  empire  then  existing.  The  king  of 
this  mighty  realm  at  that  time  was  not  dis- 
tinguished for  personal  greatness,  but  for 
the  great  eminence  of  his  position  as  mon- 
arch of  one  of  the  most  widely  extended 
empires  known  to  history.  No  great  nation 
at  that  time  disputed  his  supremacy.  Mag- 
nificence of  display  in  his  capital  city  and 
his  palaces  was  rendered  possible  by  the 


KOSE  TO  A  GKEAT  OCCASION     71 

constant  flow  of  revenues  from  more  than  a 
hundred  provinces  and  peoples  subject  to 
his  mighty  sway.  Millions  of  men  acknowl- 
edged his  sovereignty.  Wealth  and  ex- 
travagance were  the  trappings  of  his  glory. 
Self-indulgence  and  tyranny  were  his  per- 
sonal characteristics.  Lord  of  great  ar- 
mies, he  was  not  capable  of  commanding 
them  in  person.  Supreme  king  over  many 
subject  peoples,  he  had  little  capacity  for 
government,  and  was  the  easy  puppet  of  de- 
signing ministers  and  favorites  who  could 
flatter  his  vanity  and  easily  persuade  him 
to  cruel  deeds.  History  knows  him  as 
Xerxes  the  Great.  But  he  was  really 
Xerxes  the  Little,  for  the  splendor  of  his 
position  is  not  illustrated  by  any  corre- 
sponding greatness  of  action.  Eather  is  it 
described  by  his  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the 
Greeks  and  by  the  folly  and  weakness  of 
his  conduct  towards  the  Jews. 

At  the  height  of  his  splendor,  in  the 
third  year  of  his  reign,  a  great  review  of 
the  provinces  and  people  of  his  widely  ex- 
tended dominions  was  held  at  the  royal 
capital.  Captains  and  lords  and  men  of 
wealth  from  all  the  provinces  assembled  to 
witness  the  royal  glory  and  pay  homage  to 


72     ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

the  majesty  of  empire.  A  week  was  spent 
in  the  crowning  festivities  of  that  great  oc- 
casion. Buildings  of  noble  architecture 
and  fine  adornment,  furniture  and  decora- 
tions of  rare  expense  and  beauty,  feasts 
of  all  dainties  and  wine  of  choicest  quality 
marked  the  brilliant  display.  Young,  vain 
and  proud,  no  doubt  under  the  influence  of 
drink,  the  king  conceived  while  merry  with 
wine  the  foolish  whim  to  exhibit  as  the 
crowning  excellence  of  all  his  possessions, 
the  beauty  of  his  queen.  In  proper  fem- 
inine measure  she  had  entered  into  the  fes- 
tivities of  the  time,  having  made  feasts  to 
the  women  of  that  great  concourse.  But  to 
come  at  the  command  of  a  half  drunken 
husband  and  king,  boldly  to  exhibit  her 
charms  to  an  assembly  of  tipsy  men  was 
more  than  womanly  modesty  could  brook, 
and  she  proudly  and  bravely  refused.  Pro- 
voked beyond  measure  by  this  act  of  dis- 
obedience, the  foolish  tyrant  consulted  with 
his  lords  and  decided  that  such  an  act  of 
insubordination  should  be  punished  by  the 
divorce  of  the  queen,  and  her  removal  from 
her  high  estate.  This  was  accordingly 
done,  and  the  hasty  anger  of  the  vain  ty- 
rant was  appeased.     The  next  thing  in 


ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION     73 

order  was  to  find  a  new  queen  to  take  the 
vacant  place. 

Among  the  captive  Hebrews  at  the  im- 
perial capital  was  one  of  fine  lineage  and 
character.  He  had  kindly  taken  charge  of 
an  orphan  girl,  the  daughter  of  his  uncle, 
and  brought  her  up  piously  and  tenderly, 
according  to  the  best  traditions  of  his  race. 
He  seems  not  to  have  had  other  family,  but 
to  have  devoted  himself  with  generous  af- 
fection to  this  lovely  object  of  his  care. 
We  may  be  sure  that  she  was  well  instruct- 
ed in  the  history  and  religion  of  her  peo- 
ple. Our  Western  and  Christian  senti- 
ments can  find  only  repugnance  and  horror 
in  those  oriental  practices  and  laws  which 
tolerated  the  polygamous  custom  of  the 
harem.  It  was  for  the  monarch  to  choose 
from  among  the  maidens  gathered  into  the 
royal  harem  one  who  should  be  designated 
as  queen,  and  made  the  prime  favorite  of 
the  royal  rake.  We  can  only  be  shocked 
that  the  pious  Hebrew  uncle  of  this  beauti- 
ful and  beloved  girl,  who  was  to  him  as  a 
daughter,  should  have  so  far  allowed  his 
worldly  ambitions  to  override  the  fine  reli- 
gious scruples  of  his  better  instructed  race 
as  to  permit  him  to  offer  his  ward  as  a  can- 


74     EOSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

didate  for  the  royal  favor.  Disdaining  the 
artificial  aids  customary  at  that  time,  the 
fair  Jewess  presented  herself,  only  in  the 
beauty  of  her  perfect  health  and  native 
charm.  The  king  was  captivated  by  her 
loveliness,  and  doubtless  pleased  with  her 
modesty,  intelligence  and  general  behavior. 
Among  all  those  offered  for  his  royal 
choice  she  obtained  the  palm,  and  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  dignity  of  queen.  Not  yet 
had  she  disclosed  her  race  and  people. 
Then,  as  now,  that  would  have  been  to  her 
disadvantage,  because  of  the  prejudice 
against  her  nation;  for  this  has  been  the 
singular  portion  of  this  remarkable  peo- 
ple. Wherever  they  have  lived,  they  have 
lived  apart,  to  be  a  prey  and  the  scorn  of 
those  among  whom  they  have  lived.  This 
reticence  was  in  accordance  with  the  in- 
structions of  the  new  queen's  uncle,  whom 
she  still  regarded  as  a  father.  Her  high 
place  did  not  turn  away  her  affections  or 
her  obedience,  as  far  as  it  could  be  ren- 
dered, from  him  who  had  brought  her  up 
and  obtained  for  her  the  great  opportunity 
of  her  life.  The  guardian,  on  his  part, 
showed  every  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of 
his  young  ward,  and  frequently  came  to  the 


ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION     75 

gate  of  the  palace  to  make  inquiries  con- 
cerning lier.  One  day  it  befell,  while  wait- 
ing at  the  gate,  that  he  overheard  a  plot 
that  was  being  formed  between  two  disaf- 
fected servants  of  the  king.  He  promptly 
informed  the  qneen,  who  made  it  known  to 
the  king,  and  thus  his  life  was  saved. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  certain  high  of- 
ficer in  the  king's  court  whose  promotion, 
as  has  been  so  often  the  case,  fed  his  swell- 
ing pride  to  the  bursting  point,  and  made 
him  a  vain  and  jealous  fool.  He  noticed  as 
he  passed  in  and  out  of  the  royal  palace 
that  the  queen's  kinsman  and  guardian 
failed  to  offer  him  the  homage  which  he 
conceived  to  be  due  to  his  rank.  This  ap- 
parent disrespect  wounded  his  jealous  soul 
and  embittered  him,  because,  as  a  famous 
lecturer  once  expressed  it,  he  was  ''one 
bow  short."  That  missing  bow,  trifle 
though  it  was,  like  so  many  other  apparent 
trifles,  was  the  little  hinge  of  a  great  event. 
The  life  of  a  people,  and  the  heroism  of  a 
queen  revolve  upon  it.  Hatred  grew  from 
the  man  to  the  race.  Nothing  short  of 
wholesale  destruction  could  satisfy  the 
vindictive  rage,  jealousy  and  hatred  of  a 
cold-hearted,  blood-thirsty  royal  favorite. 


76     ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

So  this  pampered  lordling,  in  the  heat  and 
passion  of  his  narrow  and  vindictive  soul, 
sought  as  a  favor  to  himself  the  life  of  the 
scattered  race.  Flattering  the  king's  petty 
vanity  and  pride  of  power,  he  offered  to 
pay  into  the  royal  treasury  a  magnificent 
sum  as  the  price  of  a  people 's  life.  We  can 
scarcely  conceive  how  a  king  could  have 
granted  so  cruel,  senseless  and  wicked  a  re- 
quest. Did  we  not  know  from  other  his- 
toric instances  of  cruelty  and  tyranny  in 
monarchs,  responsible  only  to  their  own 
selfish  and  vain  whims,  it  would  indeed  be 
incredible.  Even  today,  making  all  just  al- 
lowances and  deductions,  it  stands  glar- 
ingly true  before  the  eyes  of  startled  hu- 
manity that  one,  and  no  insignificant  ele- 
ment, in  the  present  terrific  world  conflict, 
is  the  pride  of  imperial  dynasties. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  royal  order, 
at  the  request  of  this  high-placed  but  cruel- 
hearted  officer,  went  forth  to  accomplish 
in  every  province  of  the  mighty  empire 
the  destruction  of  this  scattered  and  hated 
people.  The  royal  court  went  about  its 
pleasures  and  its  business,  while  swift  mes- 
sengers flew  into  every  province,  bearing 
the  order  that  was  to  bring  death  and 


ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION     77 

gloom  in  every  Jewish  home.  The  king  and 
his  wicked  favorite  sat  down  to  feast,  but 
the  city  was  perplexed. 

The  pious  Jew  and  his  royal  ward  re- 
ceived, in  their  different  ways,  the  horrible 
news.  To  the  man,  in  his  lonely  home,  and 
later  waiting  at  the  gate,  clothed  in  sack- 
cloth and  ashes,  the  bitter,  bitter  news  of 
his  people's  threatened  doom  came  as 
a  crushing  blow.  To  the  beautiful  queen, 
in  her  apartments,  surrounded  by  her  at- 
tendants, the  message  was  borne,  and  fell 
a  baleful  shadow  over  the  splendor  of  her 
royal  state.  Quickly  she  dispatched  mes- 
sengers to  her  grieving  kinsman,  that  she 
might  know  the  utter  truth.  Now  that  wise 
observer  saw  the  supreme  opportunity  that 
had  come  to  her  who  had  been  the  darling 
object  of  his  life.  Perhaps  it  was  some 
prevision  of  advantage  to  his  people  that 
had  led  him  to  sacrifice  to  royal  admiration 
the  sweet  child  of  his  care.  It  would  not 
do  to  say  that  he  had  foreseen  such  a  calam- 
ity impending  as  this.  Yet,  knowing  the 
prejudice  against  his  race,  he  probably  had 
forecast  some  emergency  in  which  it  would 
be  highly  useful  for  him  and  his  scattered 
people  to  have  a  friend  in  court.     That 


78     KOSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

hour  had  arrived.  On  the  shrinking  fem- 
inine shoulders  of  a  fair  young  girl  the 
fate  of  God's  chosen  people  was  hanging 
now.  Never  before  or  since  did  a  maiden 
so  fair  meet  a  crisis  so  fine.  To  every  girl 
comes  that  sweet  time  when,  *  *  standing  with 
reluctant  feet,  where  the  brook  and  river 
meet,"  she  must  take  the  path  that  leads 
to  womanhood's  responsibilities.  Often 
too,  in  life's  great  and  perplexing  mazes 
of  duty  and  trial  occasions  arise  to  put  a 
woman's  heroism  to  its  utmost  test.  Wom- 
en are  brave,  brave  indeed ;  brave  as  men 
often  are  not,  and  would  not  be.  It  was 
meet  and  fitting  that  the  faith,  fidelity  and 
fervor  of  a  woman's  heart  should  be  called 
to  respond  to  duty  at  such  an  hour  as  this. 
It  was  inevitable  that  she  should  shrink. 
Any  woman  would,  or,  for  that  matter,  any 
man,  but  shrinking  is  not  cowardice;  re- 
luctance is  not  refusal.  To  guardian  and 
ward  alike,  the  bitter,  yet  splendid,  hour 
has  come.  What  it  cost  the  man  to  send 
such  a  message,  what  it  cost  the  girl  to 
make  her  answer,  even  though  delayed,  we 
can  perhaps  imagine.  To  her  messengers 
her  best  beloved  friend  said,  '  *  Presume  on 
your  favor  with  the  king;  go  in  unbidden 


BOSE  TO  A  GEEAT  OCCASION     79 

to  the  royal  palace,  and  request,  at  any  cost 
to  yourself,  the  life  of  your  people,  scat- 
tered far  and  wide."  We  do  not  wonder 
that  the  girl's  heart  at  first  failed  her; 
that  she  sent  back  another  message  that  it 
was  death  to  approach  unbidden  to  the 
royal  throne  unless  the  scepter  was  ex- 
tended. For  some  reason,  she  knew  not 
what,  she  had  not  been  summoned  to  the 
royal  presence  for  several  days.  It  might 
be  he  was  displeased  with  her.  It  might  be 
his  royal  fancy  had  suffered  fickle  change. 
It  might  be  he  had  discovered  that  she  was 
of  the  hated  race,  and  had  consented  to  her 
doom,  along  with  that  of  her  people.  Fears 
like  these  would  be  natural  to  anyone,  es- 
pecially to  a  young  girl,  timid  and  inex- 
perienced. What  should  she  do?  She 
sought  her  guardian's  counsel,  begged  that 
he  and  all  the  group  of  their  people  should 
fast  and  pray  while  she  and  her  maidens 
would  do  likewise.  Then  rising  to  a  moral 
height  which  far  outshone  the  splendor  of 
her  royal  state,  she  made  her  great,  historic 
answer:  ''And  so  will  I  go  in  unto  the 
king,  which  is  not  according  to  law,  and  if 
I  perish,  I  perish."  This  was  no  child's 
play,  but  a  woman's  answer,  great  and 


80     ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

strong.  Never  from  human  lips,  masculine 
or  feminine,  has  fallen  any  sublimer  utter- 
ance than  this.  The  perfection  of  heroism 
and  self-sacrifice  are  here.  Not  to  her 
earthly  queenship,  but  to  her  spiritual 
queenliness  we  pay  our  just  and  cordial  re- 
spect. Brave,  splendid  girl ;  beautiful  soul 
in  a  beautiful  body;  dignity  and  strength 
of  character  surpassing  royal  place  and 
power — this  is  her  meed  of  praise.  The 
name  given  to  her  in  her  babyhood  signi- 
fied Myrtle,  fragile  and  fragrant  plant,  but 
that  which  glorifies  her  queenly  state  in 
many  languages  means  star.  And  like  a 
star  indeed  she  shines  in  the  galaxy  of 
womanhood,  Esther  the  Queen. 

Having  gained  her  own  consent  and 
chosen  her  path  after  due  meditation  and 
prayer,  the  brave  and  glorious  girl  wisely 
undertakes  her  perilous  task.  She  makes 
her  plans  and  acts  them  out.  One  thing 
shall  follow  another.  There  shall  be  no 
harm  done  by  pressing  of  her  plea.  Wisely 
she  plans  and  nobly  she  wins.  After  a  few 
days,  clad  in  her  most  attractive  costume, 
she  ventures  unbidden  into  the  royal  pres- 
ence chamber.  She  takes  her  position 
near  the  entrance,  shrinking  against  the 


ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION     81 

wall.  The  king,  sitting  in  state  upon  his 
throne^  holding  audience  with  his  court, 
charmed  with  her  beauty  and  her  modest 
demeanor,  stretched  forth  the  golden  scep- 
ter in  token  that  her  visit  was  welcome. 
She  drew  near  and  touched  the  extended 
token  of  majesty.  Knowing  that  this  meant 
some  kind  of  petition  or  request,  the  king 
inquired  what  it  could  be  that  brought  the 
queen  to  him  as  a  suppliant.  She  was  too 
wise  to  make  known  her  real  request  at 
first.  It  was  a  hazardous  thing  to  venture 
even  a  slight  petition,  and  she  must  not  go 
too  fast.  She  kept  back  for  the  present  the 
main  great  motive  that  brought  her  there, 
so  accordingly  invited  the  king,  and  his 
minister  of  state,  her  wicked  enemy,  to 
come  this  day  to  a  banquet  in  her  apart- 
ments. During  the  banquet  the  king,  know- 
ing that  something  was  still  in  the  mind  of 
the  queen,  asked  again  what  was  her  re- 
quest. Not  yet  was  she  ready  to  present 
her  petition,  but  begged  one  more  day's 
grace.  She  promised  if  they  would  do  her 
the  favor  of  coming  to  her  banquet  again 
upon  the  morrow  she  would  make  known 
her  request.  Events  pass  rapidly.  The 
cruel,  vain,  heartless  minister  is  puffed  up 


82     ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

with  pride  at  being  the  guest  of  the  queen, 
little  knowing  what  was  awaiting  him. 

Meantime  that  night  the  king  could  not 
sleep,  and  in  his  insomnia,  requested  that 
the  annals  of  his  reign  should  be  read  to 
him.  Therein  account  was  taken  of  how  the 
guardian  of  his  queen  had  revealed  a  plot 
against  the  king's  life.  Surprised  that  no 
reward  had  been  given  the  man  for  this  in- 
formation, the  king,  smitten  with  a  sudden 
sense  of  justice,  determined  that  next  day 
due  honor  should  be  paid  to  the  man  whose 
timeliness  had  preserved  the  threatened 
life  of  the  monarch.  The  rest  of  the  dra- 
matic story  hastens  on  to  its  goal.  In  audi- 
ence next  day  the  king  demands  of  his  min- 
ister what  should  be  done  to  the  man  whom 
the  king  delighted  to  honor.  In  his  con- 
ceit, imagining  himself  to  be  the  person  in- 
tended, he  makes  reply  of  what  ostenta- 
tious display  of  respect  should  be  shown  to 
such  a  man,  almost  reaching  that  accorded 
to  the  monarch  himself.  The  king  then  in- 
forms him  that  the  person  meant  was  he 
whose  fidelity  and  vigilance  had  detected 
and  denounced  a  plot  against  the  king's  life. 
Mortified  and  downcast,  the  crestfallen  min- 
ister proceeded  with  a  heavy  foreboding  to 


ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION     83 

the  banquet  of  the  queen.  There  once  more 
and  finally  the  king  asks  his  royal  consort 
to  make  known  her  jDetition.  In  thrilling 
language  she  discloses  the  horrible  plot  in 
the  presence  of  the  minister  himself.  Ris- 
ing in  dignity  and  courage  she  shows  to  the 
king  how  he  had  been  duped  through  the 
hatred  of  his  minister  into  consenting  to  a 
murderous,  unnecessary,  outrageous  decree 
of  extermination  against  an  innocent  peo- 
ple. Incensed  beyond  measure,  the  king 
decrees  that  the  fallen  minister  should  be 
hanged  upon  the  gallows  that  his  cruelty 
and  pride  had  prepared  for  his  opponent. 
It  was  against  the  law  and  custom,  how- 
ever, that  any  decree  of  the  king,  however, 
unwise,  should  be  reversed.  Strange  and 
cruel  as  the  custom  seems  to  us,  it  had  its 
justification  that  the  laws,  which  were  not 
made  by  the  people,  but  proceeded  from 
royal  decree,  should  be  made  permanent 
and  not  subject  to  fitful  change.  In  many 
cases  this  custom  worked  hardship,  as  in 
this.  But  it  was  the  established  principle 
of  that  great  monarchy  and  it  could  not  be 
altered.  However,  sagacity  found  a  way 
to  counteract  the  decrees  which  could  not 
be  annulled.    So  the  king  proclaimed  that 


84     ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION 

the  Jews  should  have  authority  in  every 
place  where  their  lives  and  property  were 
attacked  to  resist  and  stand  for  themselves. 
Thus  having  the  royal  approval  and  favor 
back  of  them,  they  made  heroic  resistance 
to  the  decree  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  empire,  and  for  several  days 
withstood  their  enemies  and  triumphed. 
Great  was  the  victory.  The  prime  enemy 
was  removed,  the  stigma  upon  the  peo- 
ple was  lifted,  the  good  guardian  of  the 
queen  was  promoted  to  high  honor,  and  she 
herself  became  the  admiration  of  her  people 
and  of  the  kingdom.  Rich  and  deserved 
was  her  reward;  rich  and  deserved  also 
her  historic  fame.  High  among  the  noble 
women  who  by  courage,  fidelity,  intelli- 
gence and  self-sacrifice,  have  met  great  op- 
portunities and  triumphed  over  great  diffi- 
culties, stands  the  honored  name  of  Esther 
the  Queen. 

Though  of  studious  purpose  the  name  of 
God  is  omitted  in  the  remarkable  book 
which  tells  the  story,  we  know  that  reli- 
gious faith  lay  at  the  basis  of  the  actions  of 
Mordecai  and  Esther  in  this  great  crisis  of 
their  people's  history.  It  was  because  he 
and  his  compatriots,  and  she  and  her  maid- 


ROSE  TO  A  GREAT  OCCASION     85 

ens  had  fasted  and  prayed  that  she  was 
able  to  take  and  carry  out  the  splendid  res- 
olution which  marks  the  turning  point  in 
her  career.  It  was  noble  courage  and  un- 
conquerable faith  that  made  it  possible  for 
this  timid  yet  faithful  soul  to  rise  to  the 
height  of  her  opportunity  and  risk  her  life 
for  the  safety  of  her  people. 

National  and  religious  history  alike  af- 
ford many  notable  examples  of  the  lofty 
heroism  of  women.  Surely  these  recent 
days  have  shown  anew  what  woman  can 
dare  and  do,  and  endure  in  the  perilous 
days  of  war.  But  the  days  that  follow  war, 
the  readjustments  in  the  racial,  political, 
social  and  religious  affairs  of  the  world 
that  must  now  be  made,  demand  the  highest 
type  of  womanly  sagacity  and  courage. 
The  right  of  suffrage  and  the  opportunities 
of  business  open  a  new  world  to  women  in 
our  times.  Faith  in  God,  fidelity  to  herself 
and  her  people,  clear  intelligence,  prompt 
and  decisive  action,  and  the  courage  that 
for  Christ's  sake  risks  and  conquers — these 
are  what  the  world  expects  of  the  woman 
of  to-day. 


VI 

CHILDREN  AT  PLAY 

"And  the  streets  of  the  city  shall  be  full  of  boys  and  girls 
playing  in  the  streets  thereof."     Zech.  8  :  5. 

"Like  unto  children  sitting  in  the  markets,  and  calling  unto 
their  fellows."     Matt.   11 :  16. 

WHEREVER  there  are  cities  there 
are  children,  and  wherever  there 
are  children  there  is  play.  These 
two  passages  from  the  Bible,  one  in  the 
Old  Testament  and  one  in  the  New,  speak 
of  children  as  they  play  in  the  streets  and 
open  places  of  the  city.  Children  in  old 
times  were  not  so  different  from  children 
in  our  time.  The  first  one  of  these  texts 
is  from  the  prophet  Zechariah.  He  was 
telling  about  what  would  be  in  Jerusalem 
when  the  people  who  had  been  taken  cap- 
tive and  carried  away  should  be  brought 
back  again.  He  was  thinking  about  how 
the  loved  city  that  had  been  destroyed 
should  be  rebuilt,  and  how  once  more  the 
life  and  doings  of  the  people  should  be 
much  as  they  had  been  before  the  terrible 
destruction  and   captivity  had   occurred. 


CHILDKEN  AT  PLAY  87 

[Among  other  things,  he  mentions  that  there 
should  be  very  old  people  in  the  city,  and 
also  very  young  people.  That  means,  of 
course,  there  should  be  people  all  in  be- 
tween. One  of  the  signs  of  a  city's  life  and 
prosperity  is  the  presence  and  play  of  chil- 
dren. So  it  is  not  surprising  that  this  good 
old  prophet  should  have  mentioned  the  play 
of  children  in  the  streets  as  one  of  the 
things  to  which  the  returning  captives 
should  \  ook  forward.  That  would  be  a  very 
lonesome  town  in  which  there  were  no  boys 
and  girls  to  play  in  the  streets  and  parks 
where  it  was  proper  to  do  so. 

In  the  second  passage,  from  the  book  of 
Matthew,  we  have  a  saying  of  Jesus.  This 
was  many,  many  years  after  the  prophet 
Zechariah  had  written  about  the  playing 
children.  Jesus  was  speaking  of  the  way 
the  people  acted  toward  John  the  Baptist 
and  himself.  They  criticised  John  for 
doing  one  way  and  Jesus  for  doing  just  the 
other  way.  The  people  could  not  be  suited 
either  way.  So  Jesus  said  they  were  like 
children  playing  in  the  markets — that  is  in 
the  open  squares,  somewhat  like  our  parks 
' — and  quarreling  ^\T;th  each  other  over  their 
games.    They  said,  *'We  cannot  do  to  suit 


88  CHILDREN  AT  PLAY 

you  anyway.  We  played  lively  music  and 
you  wouldn't  skip,  and  we  played  mournful 
music  and  you  wouldn't  cry."  That's  tlie 
way  children  do  sometimes  when  they  get 
cross.  Anyhow,  it  is  an  interesting  thing 
to  think  of  Jesus  watching  children  at  their 
play,  and  drawing  a  lesson  from  it.  So 
when  we  put  the  meaning  of  both  these 
texts  together  we  find  that  the  Bible  has 
something  to  say  about  the  play  of  children 
in  the  streets,  and  that  is  what  we  are  to 
think  about  for  a  little  while. 

The  first  thing  for  us  to  think  about  is 
that  too  often  there  is  something  bad  in  chil- 
dren's play.  When  Jesus  saw  the  children 
playing,  he  noticed  that  they  were  a  little 
quarrelsome  and  hard  to  please,  and 
couldn't  be  suited.  We  all  know  how  that 
is — children  and  grownups  both — for  the 
grownups  haven't  forgotten  how  they  used 
to  be  selfish  in  their  play,  and  they  have 
to  reprove  the  children  many  a  time  for 
not  playing  nicely.  Jesus  doesn  't  like  bad 
playing.  It  is  wrong  in  our  play  to  insist 
on  having  our  own  way;  to  get  into  the 
pouts  and  refuse  to  join  in  because  the  play 
is  not  what  we  proposed.  Isn't  it  a  pity 
for  our  ugly  tempers  and  our  selfishness 


CHILDKEN  AT  PLAY  89 

to  get  into  our  play  and  spoil  it!  Why- 
play  ought  to  be  full  of  fun  and  gladness. 
Nothing  that  is  good  ought  to  be  spoiled. 
You  don't  like  spoiled  fruit,  do  you,  nor 
spoiled  butter?  Well  spoiled  play  is  bad 
too,  and  it  is  spoiled  whenever  one  boy  or 
girl,  or  one  side,  wants  to  have  it  all  their 
way  and  nobody  can  do  to  suit  anybody 
else.  The  playground  is  the  place  where 
character,  that  is  the  kind  of  boys  and  girls 
we  are,  always  shows  itself.  Sometimes 
play  may  not  only  be  selfish,  but  too  often 
it  is  rude  and  coarse,  and  that  is  worse  yet. 
Boys  ought  to  be  little  gentlemen,  and  girls 
little  ladies  in  their  play.  What  we  learn 
to  be  on  the  playground  we  are  very  apt  to 
be  when  we  grow  up.  If  we  are  rude  and 
selfish  and  hard  to  please  at  play,  we  are 
more  than  likely  to  be  that  at  work  when  we 
grow  up.  In  this  way  we  shall  make  our- 
selves very  unhappy,  and  what  is  worse, 
make  other  people  unhappy  too.  The  play- 
ground is  a  fine  place  to  develop  character ; 
that  is,  to  learn  how  to  hate  what  is  bad 
and  love  what  is  good,  to  control  ourselves, 
make  ourselves  mind. 

There  is  another  thing  we  must  remem- 
ber, and  that  is  that  Jesus  watches  us  while 


90  CHILDREN  AT  PLAY 

we  play.  He  knows  how  we  feel,  and  what 
we  say.  If  we  are  bad  and  cross  and  selfish 
and  hard  to  please,  he  Imows  it,  and  he 
doesn't  like  it.  He  was  never  that  kind  of 
child  himself,  and  he  wants  children,  in 
their  play  as  well  as  when  they  grow  up 
and  work,  to  be  like  himself.  The  play- 
ground is  a  good  place  to  show  how  un- 
selfish and  patient  and  kind  and  gentle  we 
can  be. 

This  brings  us  to  think  about  the  good 
side  of  play.  It  was  this  that  the  good 
prophet  Zechariah  had  in  mind  when  he 
thought  of  the  beautiful  city  being  built  up 
again,  and  full  of  happy  boys  and  girls 
playing  in  the  streets.  A  city  which  has 
great  buildings  and  factories,  and  wide 
streets  and  a  great  many  people  living  in 
it,  and  a  great  deal  of  business  going  on  is 
a  fine  thing.  But  did  you  ever  think  how 
lonesome  and  strange  a  city  would  be  if 
there  were  no  children  to  play  in  it?  Now 
of  course  there  are  some  parts  of  the  city 
where  children  ought  not  to  play.  Where 
there  is  much  business  going  on,  and  many 
wagons  and  automobiles,  it  is  dangerous 
and  improper  for  children  to  play.  And 
then  there  are  beautiful  parks  which  would 


CHILDREN  AT  PLAY  91 

be  injured  by  playing  upon  them,  and  some- 
times the  noise  of  play  may  be  disagree- 
able to  the  people  living  in  certain  places. 
All  these  things  must  be  thought  of.  But 
every  city  should  provide  playgrounds  for 
children,  or  permit  their  play  in  such 
streets  and  parks  as  are  suitable  for  that 
purpose.  Some  of  the  cities  in  Europe,  and 
in  our  country  too,  are  doing  a  great  deal 
in  this  direction.  In  Chicago  there  are 
many  beautiful  parks  and  places  on  the 
lake  front  where  thousands  of  children  may 
play.  In  some  parts  of  some  cities,  as  in 
New  York,  where  there  is  so  much  confu- 
sion and  crowding,  it  is  hard  for  the  chil- 
dren to  find  a  place  to  play.  Some  years 
ago  there  was  a  good  man  in  New  York 
named  Jacob  Riis,  and  he  was  much  con- 
cerned because  the  children  in  the  crowded 
parts  of  the  city  couldn't  find  places  to 
play,  so  he  got  the  people  to  do  something 
about  it.  He  was  the  children's  friend. 
The  school  houses  and  yards  were  made  so 
children  could  play  in  them,  and  roof  gar- 
dens were  made  and  fixed  so  they  would  be 
safe  for  the  children  to  go  up  on  the  house 
tops  and  play  in  the  fresh  air.  Every  city 
ought  to  take  care  of  the  health  of  its  chil- 


92  CHILDREN  AT  PLAY 

dren,  and  so  provide  playing  places  for 
them.  On  the  other  hand  the  children 
should  not  abuse  their  playgrounds.  They 
should  avoid  rough,  selfish  and  bad  conduct 
on  the  city's  playgrounds.  All  ought  to 
try  to  play  right,  to  play  fair,  so  that  the 
people  of  the  city  will  be  proud  of  their 
playgrounds,  and  not  find  them  a  noisy  nui- 
sance. Certainly  the  older  children,  espe- 
cially those  who  are  Christians,  should  take 
care  of  one  another,  and  of  the  little  ones, 
and  not  be  cruel  and  unkind  to  them  in  the 
playgrounds.  If  the  playground  is  a  pretty 
place,  it  is  a  place  for  pretty  conduct. 

When  we  think  of  these  two  texts  to- 
gether, we  may  think  of  the  second  as  a 
fulfillment  of  the  first.  Zechariah  the 
prophet  saw  in  his  imagination  a  new  Jeru- 
salem, full  of  boys  and  girls  playing  in  its 
streets,  and  it  was  a  happy  thing  to  him  to 
think  that  joyful  daily  life  should  again  be 
found  in  the  city  that  had  been  destroyed. 
So  when  Jesus  came  to  that  Jerusalem 
which  had  been  rebuilt,  as  he  walked  its 
streets  he  found  the  children  playing  in  it, 
and  saw  what  the  prophet  promised  come 
true  in  the  actual  Jerusalem  in  which  he 
lived  and  worked.    It  is  true  that  the  play 


CHILDREN  AT  PLAY  93 

was  not  perfect,  but  Jesus  wanted  to  make 
it  so.  He  wants  all  our  cities  to  be  full  of 
good  boys  and  girls,  happy  in  their  play 
because  they  are  unselfish  and  sweet  in 
their  games.  Now  the  real  Jerusalem  was 
God's  city,  and  sometimes  in  the  Bible 
heaven  is  spoken  of  as  the  New  Jerusalem, 
the  Holy  City  of  God.  And  so  I  think  it  is 
not  out  of  place  for  us  to  think  of  heaven 
as  a  glorious  home  and  city  where  boys  and 
girls  are  happy  in  their  play.  You  know  in 
the  book  of  Eevelation  some  wonderful  de- 
scriptions are  given  of  the  heavenly  city. 
Thousands  and  thousands  are  there,  sing- 
ing God's  praise,  and  rejoicing  in  him  and 
one  another.  There  used  to  be  a  little  hymn 
that  was  sung  very  much  when  I  was  a 
child,  and  I  loved  it  greatly. 

"Around  the  throne  of  God  in  heaven, 
Thousands  of  children  stand; 
Children  whose  sins  are  all  forgiven, 
A  glorious,  happy  band." 

I  believe  there  is  truth  in  what  that  little 
hymn  says.  Many,  many  children  die,  and 
their  spirits  go  to  heaven  to  be  with  Jesus, 
and  that  heavenly  city  is  full  of  those  chil- 
dren who  are  not  bad  any  more.   Jesus  has 


94  CHILDREN  AT  PLAY 

made  them  perfectly  pure  because  they 
have  loved  and  trusted  him  here  in  this  life. 
I  do  not  think  it  could  be  a  perfect  heaven 
if  there  were  no  happy  children  there.  And 
though  it  pains  us  to  part  with  them  here, 
it  gives  us  joy  to  think  that  they  are  happy, 
and  we  shall  be  happy  with  them  when  God 
brings  us  home  to  himself.  There  is  only 
one  way  to  make  sure  of  being  happy  in 
heaven  forever,  and  that  is,  as  you  know,  to 
take  Jesus  for  our  Saviour;  to  give  our 
hearts  to  him  and  love  him  and  do  what  he 
says.  Jesus  loves  children  and  he  wants 
children  to  love  him.  And  so  if  we  do  give 
ourselves  to  him  and  try  to  be  in  every- 
thing, even  in  our  play,  just  what  Jesus 
wants,  he  will  make  us  happy  here  in  this 
world,  and  then  afterwards  he  will  take  us 
to  be  with  him,  and  with  all  the  good  peo- 
ple. And  so  we  must  think  of  heaven  as  a 
glorious  and  beautiful  place,  full  of  happy 
saints  who  have  been  old,  and  middle  aged, 
and  even  little  children,  who  somehow  will 
continue  to  be  what  they  were,  only  changed 
for  the  better.  There  will  be  no  more  bad- 
ness, no  more  crossness,  no  more  selfish- 
ness. We  do  not  know  just  what  the  saints 
and  the  happy  children  will  be  doing,  but 


CHILDEEN  AT  PLAY  95 

we  do  know  that  something  like  play  will 
continue  for  the  children,  and  they  will  be 
perfectly  happy.  And  heaven  itself  will 
be  all  the  brighter  because  the  streets  of 
the  city  shall  be  full  of  boys  and  girls,  re- 
joicing for  evermore. 

No  doubt  a  number  of  older  persons  here 
to-day  have  sweet  and  tender  reason  to 
think  of  the  children  in  heaven.  It  is  a 
comfort  beyond  words  to  feel  sure  that  our 
loving  Saviour  has  received  our  little  ones, 
sundered  from  us  by  death,  into  His  own 
presence  and  keeps  them  for  our  coming. 

' '  My  Lord  hath  need  of  these  flowerets  gay, '  * 

The  reaper  said  and  smiled; 
"Dear  tokens  of  the  earth  are  they, 

Where  He  was  once  a  child. ' ' 


vn 

TALITHACUMI! 


'Talitha  cumi. 


THIS  is  a  strange  text,  isn't  it?  Yon 
never  heard  this  language  spoken. 
Nobody  speaks  it  now,  exactly  as 
it  was  spoken  in  old  times.  It  is  what  is 
called  a  dead  language.  Doesn't  it  sound 
odd?  But  you  know  who  said  it,  don't 
you?  It  was  Jesus.  Shall  I  tell  you  the 
story  how  he  came  to  say  these  words  that 
seem  so  strange  to  us?  You  know  that 
when  Jesus  lived  here  on  earth,  because  he 
was  the  Son  of  God  he  could  and  did  do 
many  very  wonderful  things.  He  could 
make  sick  people  well  just  by  speaking  to 
them  or  touching  them,  and  very  many  peo- 
ple came  and  asked  him  to  make  them  well, 
or  their  friends.  One  time  there  was  a  man 
named  Jairus,  who  was  a  very  nice  man, 
and  he  was  highly  thought  of  by  the  peo- 
ple. He  held  a  high  position  in  the  syna- 
gogue.   That  was  a  kind  of  church.  He  was 

96 


TALITHA  CUMI!  97 

a  very  good  man  too.  He  had  a  little 
daughter,  twelve  years  old,  and  she  got 
very,  very  sick.  Now  he  had  heard  some- 
how that  Jesns  could  make  sick  people  well, 
and  so  when  he  heard  that  Jesus  was  near- 
by he  left  his  home  and  his  little  sick 
daughter,  who  was  about  to  die,  and  went 
in  search  of  Jesus.  He  felt  that  if  Jesus 
could  just  get  there  to  the  house  before  the 
little  girl  died  he  could  make  her  well  again, 
as  he  had  done  to  others.  So  he  came  to 
Jesus,  and  begged  him  that  he  would  come 
and  lay  his  hand  on  her.  Jesus  went,  and 
his  friends  went  along  with  him.  It  took 
him  a  good  little  while  to  get  to  the  house, 
because  there  were  so  many  people  that 
they  crowded  around  him,  and  a  poor  sick 
woman  stopped  him  to  cure  her.  Don't 
you  know  Jairus  was  worried  because  of 
the  delay?  How  anxious  he  was!  And 
sure  enough,  before  they  could  get  home  to 
the  little  girl  she  died.  Some  of  the  serv- 
ants, or  friends,  from  the  house  came  and 
told  Jairus  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to 
trouble  Jesus  any  more,  for  the  child  had 
died.  They  did  not  have  any  idea  that 
Jesus  could  make  her  live  again,  and  it  may 
be  that  Jairus  felt  that  way  himself.    But 


98  TALITHA  CUMI! 

Jesus  knew  that  he  could  not  only  make 
people  well,  but  could  bring  them  to  life 
again,  and  he  was  so  sorry  for  Jairus  that 
he  paid  no  attention  to  what  these  people 
said,  but  told  him  not  to  be  afraid,  but  only 
believe  in  him.  I  dare  say  Jairus  was  not 
perfectly  satisfied,  but  still  he  trusted  the 
Lord,  and  they  went  on  to  the  house. 
On  coming  to  the  house  they  found  a 
crowd  of  friends  and  others  who  were 
weeping  and  crying  and  making  a  great 
noise  because  the  child  was  dead.  That 
was  a  curious  way  of  doing  in  those  days. 
They  even  hired  people  to  come  and  play 
sorrowful  music  so  as  to  make  them  cry. 
This  all  seems  very  strange  to  us.  We 
would  rather  be  quiet  in  our  sorrows.  But 
even  now  there  are  some  people  that  like  to 
have  a  great  outcry  and  do  not  know  how 
to  control  themselves  when  there  is  trouble 
like  this.  But  Jesus  did  not  like  it,  and  he 
told  those  who  were  playing  on  instruments 
and  crying  out  to  stop  making  all  that 
noise.  He  said,  ''The  child  is  not  dead,  but 
is  asleep."  Of  course  she  was  dead,  and 
they  knew  it,  and  Jesus  knew  it,  but  he 
knew  he  was  going  to  make  her  alive,  and 
that  she  was  lying  there  so  still  and  sweet 


TALITHA  CUMI!  99 

that  it  looked  as  if  she  was  only  asleep. 
No  doubt  he  said  this  also  to  comfort  the 
father  and  the  other  loved  ones,  as  well  as 
to  rebuke  those  who  were  making  the  noise. 
But  the  people  who  were  there  for  curios- 
ity and  to  make  an  occasion  of  the  funeral 
broke  out  laughing.  Think  of  that !  They 
just  laughed  at  Jesus  for  saying  she  was 
asleep.  They  did  not  understand  what  he 
was  going  to  do.  He  made  those  fussy  peo- 
ple go  away,  and  took  the  father  and  moth- 
er of  the  little  girl,  and  his  nearest  friends, 
Peter  and  John  and  James,  and  went  into 
the  room  where  the  little  girl  was  lying 
dead. 

There  she  lay,  just  as  though  she  was 
asleep,  still  and  lovely,  and  Jesus  must 
have  felt  very  sorry  for  her  parents,  and 
yet  very  glad  that  he  was  going  to  bring 
her  back  to  them.  Then  it  was  that  he  took 
the  child  by  the  hand  and  said  these  beau- 
tiful words  to  her,  which  seem  so  strange 
to  us,  ''Talitha  cumi."  You  know  what 
the  words  mean?  ** Maiden,  arise."  And 
then  we  are  told  that  her  spirit  returned, 
and  she  rose  up  immediately.  Wasn't  that 
wonderful?  Don't  you  think  her  mother 
must  have  kissed  her,  and  her  father,  and 


100  TALITHA  CUMI! 

were  full  of  joy  and  thankfulness  that 
Jesus  should  have  done  even  more  than  to 
make  her  well  from  sickness,  but  called  her 
back  from  death  just  the  same  as  if  he  had 
roused  her  from  sleep  ?  Then  there  is  an- 
other thing  to  remember  here.  He  told 
them  to  give  her  something  to  eat.  There 
is  a  noticeable  thing  about  people  when 
they  are  getting  well  from  sickness,  and 
that  is  they  get  very  hungry  because  they 
have  been  made  weak  by  the  disease. 

Jesus  knew  the  little  girl  must  have  good 
nourishment.  Can't  we  imagine  how  gladly 
that  mother  went  to  prepare  something  for 
the  little  girl  to  eat!  That's  something 
mothers  like  to  do,  and  probably  no  mother 
in  all  the  world  ever  prepared  nourishment 
for  a  child  who  was  getting  well  with  more 
joy  than  did  this  wife  of  Jairus.  Then  we 
must  think  about  the  little  girl  too;  how 
strangely  she  must  have  felt.  Why  she 
was  twelve  years  old,  and  so  could  under- 
stand things,  and  she  knew  something  that 
none  of  us  know.  She  had  died.  Her  spirit 
had  left  her  body  and  had  come  back. 
Don't  you  suppose  she  would  talk  to  her 
parents  and  friends  about  that  wonderful 
experience  ?    Nothing  is  told  us  about  it  in 


TALITHA  CUMI!  101 

the  Bible,  but  we  just  can't  help  thinking 
how  wonderful  a  thing  it  was  to  come  back 
from  the  dead.  I  have  no  doubt  she  lived  a 
very  happy  life,  and  loved  Jesus  all  her 
days.  Nobody  could  ever  have  done  that 
for  her  but  Jesus  only.  Now  we  must  think 
of  some  things  this  story  teaches  us. 

First  of  all,  it  makes  us  feel  very  sure 
that  Jesus  loves  children,  and  that  he  cares 
when  they  are  sick.  Children  are  often 
sick.  A  great  many  are  sick  in  New  York 
now,  with  a  very  strange  disease.*  And  we 
must  know,  that  though  Jesus  is  not  here 
in  the  body,  yet  he  cares  up  in  heaven  when 
the  children  are  sick;  and  when  we  get 
sick  we  ought  to  think  that  Jesus  can  be 
near  us  in  our  thoughts,  and  that  he  likes 
for  us  to  think  of  him  and  to  want  him  when 
we  are  sick.  Somehow  we  think  of  the  lit- 
tle girl  in  her  sickness  rather  than  as  hav- 
ing died,  because  she  was  dead  only  a  very 
little  while,  and  it  was  as  if  she  had 
dropped  off  to  sleep  and  waked  up  again. 
What  we  need  to  think  about  is  that  Jesus 
can  be  with  us  and  help  us  in  sickness  and 
in  death  too.  Sometimes  children  die,  and 
it  is  a  great  comfort  to  their  parents  to  feel 

•Infantile  Paralysis,  July,  1916. 


102  TALITHA  CUMI! 

that  Jesus  is  with  them,  though  he  is  not  in 
the  body  to  talk  with  them,  or  to  heal  the 
sick  by  the  touch  of  his  hand.  But  when 
there  is  sickness  and  sorrow  in  the  home 
we  can  feel  very  sure  that  Jesus  comes  just 
as  he  did  to  the  home  of  Jairus.  How 
much  we  need  Jesus  when  we  are  well,  as 
well  as  when  we  are  sick.  We  need  him 
always,  and  then  when  we  come  to  die  we 
shall  need  him  most  of  all,  for  he  knows 
how  to  take  care  of  us  even  then,  and  to 
make  us  live  on  in  another  way.  It  is  only 
Jesus  who  can  bring  us  through  death  to 
the  happy  life  beyond  it  so  as  to  make 
death  itself  seem  but  a  little  sleep.  Let  us 
love  and  trust  him  always  so  that  in  sick- 
ness and  in  death  he  will  be  near  us  to 
help  us. 

The  next  thing  we  must  think  is  that 
Jesus  can  make  us  well  when  we  are  sick. 
We  must  have  a  doctor  and  sometimes  the 
nurse,  and  we  must  take  medicine  and  try 
to  get  well,  but  when  we  really  do  get  well 
it  is  because  God  blesses  the  medicine. 
Sometimes  sickness  is  a  good  thing  for  us. 
If  it  makes  us  think  of  God,  and  of  our  Sav- 
iour, it  may  be  a  blessing  to  us  all  our  life. 
Perhaps  some  of  you  already  know  about 


TALITHA  CUMI!  103 

this.  I  am  sure  there  are  many  people  who 
have  been  brought  to  God  through  sickness. 
Somehow  they  have  learned  how  nobody 
can  help  us  as  much  as  God,  and  then  when 
we  get  well  and  feel  that  he  has  helped  us 
through  our  illness,  we  love  him  for  it,  and 
want  to  do  something  for  him.  How  we 
want  to  show  our  thankfulness  to  Jesus  and 
also  to  the  doctors  and  nurses  who  have 
helped  us  in  our  sickness.  I  must  tell  you 
about  a  good  old  doctor  that  I  knew  once. 
He  was  a  very  kind  man,  and  everybody 
loved  him  in  the  neighborhood.  A  little 
boy  got  sick,  and  his  parents  were  very 
poor  and  did  not  know  how  to  take  care  of 
him.  So  this  good  old  doctor  not  only  came 
to  see  him,  but  stayed  a  long  time  when  he 
came,  and  helped  to  nurse  him  and  show 
his  parents  what  to  do.  The  little  boy  got 
well,  and  he  and  his  parents  both  were  very 
thankful  to  that  good  doctor,  as  they  ought 
to  have  been.  One  day  the  doctor  drove 
by  the  house,  and  the  little  boy  knew  he  was 
coming  back  that  way,  so  he  gathered  some 
apples  in  a  little  bag,  and  had  them  ready, 
and  when  the  doctor  came  back  he  ran  down 
the  hill  and  got  the  doctor  to  stop  and 
poured  out  the  apples  in  the  buggy.     It 


104  TALITHA  CUMI! 

wasn't  much  to  do.  The  apples  were  not 
very  good,  but  they  were  all  the  little  boy 
had,  and  that  was  his  way  of  showing  his 
love  for  the  doctor.  The  good  doctor  liked 
it  very  much.  He  was  very  much  touched, 
and  said  to  his  friend, ' '  Gratitude  is  better 
than  money."  So  when  Jesus  makes  us 
well  we  ought  to  try  to  make  him  glad. 

Another  lesson  we  must  learn  is  that 
Jesus  can  cure  us  of  our  sins  as  well  as  of 
our  sickness.  He  can  help  us  to  be  good  as 
well  as  to  get  well,  and  that  is  the  main 
thing  he  came  into  the  world  to  do.  He  can 
touch  us  in  our  souls  just  the  same  as  he 
took  this  little  girl  by  the  hand,  and  say 
''rise,"  and  he  does  this  in  our  conscience 
when  there  is  something  inside  of  us  that 
says  we  must  quit  being  bad  and  come  to 
Jesus.  That's  Jesus  saying,  "Get  up,  be 
something,  do  something  for  God."  Sin  is 
described  in  the  Bible  as  sickness  and  as 
death.  Paul  speaks  of  being  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  in  sins,  and  our  souls  in  a  way 
may  be  like  that ;  dead  to  goodness.  That's 
right  hard  for  children  to  understand — for 
anybody  indeed — but  it's  something  like 
that  when  we  are  bad.  The  good  in  us  is 
dead,  and  it  is  a  terrible  sort  of  death. 


TALITHA  CUMI!  105 

But  Jesus  can  make  us  alive  out  of  the 
death  of  sin.  That  is  what  we  need  more 
than  bodily  life.  It  is  to  be  alive  to  God ;  to 
everything  that  is  good. 

Still  another  thing  is  that  we  must  do 
what  Jesus  says.  Suppose  the  little  girl's 
soul  had  refused  to  come  back  to  the  little 
body!  "What  a  strange  thing  that  would 
have  been!  She  was  dead,  and  yet  some- 
how her  soul  could  answer  and  come  back 
when  Jesus  told  her  to  get  up.  And  it's 
just  that  way  with  us  in  our  sins.  We  do 
not  feel  strong  enough  to  be  good,  but  if 
we  really  answer  when  Jesus  calls  us,  he 
can  make  us  alive  in  our  hearts,  just  the 
same  as  he  made  the  little  girl  alive  in  her 
body.  But  I  think  the  little  girl  must  have 
been  glad  to  answer  back  to  Jesus  and  come 
and  live  again  to  make  her  parents  happy 
and  to  serve  the  Lord  through  her  restored 
life.  And  even  so  it  must  be  with  us  when 
Jesus  makes  our  souls  alive.  We  should 
answer  back  and  say,  **  Yes,  Lord,  I  will  try 
to  live  the  Christian  life,  and  be  what  you 
want  me  to  be,  and  do  what  you  want  me  to 
do  always." 

The  last  lesson  we  must  learn  is  that 
Jesus  took  care  of  the  little  girl  when  she 


106  TALITHA  CUMI! 

got  up.  He  told  people  about  to  give  her 
something  to  eat.  She  was  very  weak  and 
she  needed  food.  And  so  it  is  when  Jesus 
makes  us  well  in  our  hearts  and  minds.  He 
tells  good  people  to  take  care  of  us.  Our 
parents  and  loved  ones,  and  our  Sunday 
school  and  our  church  are  they  who  should 
feed  our  souls.  The  food  is  the  Bible.  God 
tells  us  in  the  Bible  what  he  wants  us  to 
know,  and  to  be,  and  to  do.  It  is  by  learn- 
ing and  doing  what  the  Bible  says  that  we 
grow  strong  in  soul,  in  character,  in  life. 

So  may  we  all  hear  and  heed  when  Jesus 
calls  us  to  life  from  our  sins,  and  then  may 
we  feed  upon  his  word  that  we  may  be 
strong  to  serve  him  all  our  days ! 


VIII 

THE  STORY  OF  A  GREAT  HERO 
WITH  A  FAULT 

And  there  came  an  angel  of  the  Lord,  and  sat  under  an  oak 
which  was  in  Ophrah,  that  pertained  unto  Joash  the  Abiezrite : 
and  his  son  Gideon  threshed  wheat  by  the  winepress,  to  hide  it 
from  the  Midianites. 

And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him,  and  said 
unto  him,  The  Lord  is  with  thee,  thou  mighty  man  of  valour. 
Judges  6  :  11,  12. 

THAT  dark  age  of  Hebrew  history 
known  as  the  period  of  the  Judges 
was  dragging  its  weary  length 
through  the  centuries.  The  lapses  of  the 
people  from  the  true  worship  and  service 
of  God  had  again  and  again  brought  disas- 
ter and  oppression.  At  the  time  of  our 
story  the  land  lay  under  the  tyranny  and 
robbery  of  the  wild  Arab  peoples  to  the 
East  and  South  of  Palestine.  We  are  un- 
happily only  too  painfully  aware  of  how 
cruel  and  destructive  these  Eastern  peoples 
could  be.  The  cry  of  the  Armenian  in  this 
twentieth  century  has  been  lifted  to  God 
and  man  against  the  unspeakable  cruelties 
and  oppressions  of  the  Turk.    We  used  to 

107 


108       A  HEKO  WITH  A  FAULT 

say  that  such  savagery  belonged  to  ancient, 
uncivilized  peoples,  but  the  world  stands 
aghast  at  the  spectacle  of  such  horrors  as 
our  own  time  is  witnessing. 

The  scattered,  enfeebled  people  of  Israel 
were  an  easy  prey  to  the  fierce  and  warlike 
hosts  of  Midian.  Fields  and  homes  were 
ruthlessly  desolated.  The  growing  crops 
were  trampled  under  foot.  The  gathered 
grain  was  seized  and  carried  off,  the  flocks 
and  herds  driven  away.  The  people  were 
left  in  poverty  and  despair.  Near  the  cen- 
ter of  the  country,  in  the  half  tribe  of 
Manasseh,  to  the  west  of  the  Jordan,  there 
was  a  family  of  considerable  importance. 
A  father  was  blessed  with  a  number  of 
fine  sons.  All  of  these  had  been  slain  by 
the  ruthless  conquerors  except  one,  who 
somehow  had  escaped.  One  day,  accom- 
panied perhaps  by  his  servants  and  his  own 
youthful  sons,  he  had  hidden  himself  beside 
the  winepress  to  escape  the  notice  of  his 
foes  while  he  threshed  out  the  scanty  re- 
mains of  his  wheat  harvest.  Perhaps  while 
thus  furtively  engaged,  his  devout  soul  was 
lifted  in  prayer  to  God  for  his  downtrod- 
den people.  While  the  others  were  per- 
haps out  of  immediate  touch,  or  he  had 


A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT        109 

sought  some  hidden  spot  to  pray,  a  messen- 
ger from  the  skies  draws  near  and  salutes 
the  brave,  strong  man  with  these  strange 
words:  ''God  is  with  thee,  thou  mighty 
man  of  valor. ' ' 

Without  any  irreverence  or  distrust  the 
plea  of  the  patriot  comes  first  to  his  lips 
when  he  replies,  "If  the  Lord  be  with  us, 
why  then  is  all  this  befallen  us  ? "  This  nat- 
ural and  pathetic  remonstrance  brings  a 
reassuring  word  from  the  heavenly  one: 
* '  Go  in  this  thy  might,  and  thou  shalt  save 
Israel  from  the  hands  of  the  Midianites." 
What  a  salutation!  Here  was  manifest 
destiny.  Here  was  the  awakening  of  a 
heroic  spirit.  Here  was  the  divine  sum- 
mons that  comes  but  once  in  a  lifetime  for 
a  man  to  gather  up  his  best  manhood,  his 
whole  intense,  throbbing  selfhood  for  the 
supreme  task  that  awaits  him.  The  spark 
is  slowly  kindled.  The  modest  and  reluc- 
tant hero  still  argues.  Not  quite  satisfied, 
but  burning  and  yearning  in  his  soul,  he 
pleads  for  a  little  more  time.  He  asks 
the  heavenly  visitant  to  wait  and  receive  an 
oblation  at  his  hands.  He  would  parley 
longer  with  his  celestial  guest  and  gain 


110       A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT 

more  of  hope  and  heartening  for  the  tre- 
mendous undertaking  that  lay  before  him. 
Returning  with  his  oblation  he  lays  it  down 
imder  the  tree  upon  a  rock.  The  angel 
smites  it  with  his  staff.  A  flame  shoots  up 
to  burn  the  sacrifice,  and  the  messenger 
retires.  Like  many  another  man,  conscious 
of  sin  and  realizing  the  immediate  presence 
of  God,  the  hero  was  smitten  with  awe  and 
wholesome  fear  of  the  divine.  But  God 
spoke  in  the  innermost  sanctuary  of  his 
being  and  gave  him  peace.  There  between 
God  and  a  great  soul  a  partnership  of 
power  was  made,  and  already  in  Israel's 
night  the  first  faint  streak  of  dawn  ap- 
pears. 

One  of  the  causes  of  Israel's  overthrow 
had  been  neglect  and  denial  of  God.  The 
idolatry  of  the  surrounding  peoples,  their 
own  too  easy  consent,  had  brought  in  for- 
getfulness  of  God,  decay  of  religion,  growth 
of  superstition  and  all  sorts  of  corrupt 
practices.  Any  man  who  would  lead  Is- 
rael to  deliverance  and  victory  must  make 
his  break  with  existing  entanglements. 
This  was  no  time  to  palter  with  evil,  to 
speak  soft  words  of  compromise  with  the 
forces  of  sin  and  decay.    Promptly  the  fine 


A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT        111 

intelligence  and  heroic  soul  of  this  great 
leader  saw  this  point.  That  very  night,  in 
his  own  father's  town,  where  idolatry  had 
entered,  he  broke  down  the  altar  of  the 
strange  god  and  cut  to  pieces  the  idolatrous 
images  about  it.  Astonishment  took  hold 
upon  the  people  next  morning  when  they 
saw  what  had  been  done.  He  was  not  a 
man  to  deny  his  deed,  but  faced  the  angered 
crowd  and  acknowledged  the  act  as  his. 
Among  the  many  heroic  deeds  of  this  man's 
life  this  stands  out.  When  a  man  can  face 
his  own  friends  and  kindred  in  a  daring  act 
of  righteousness  which  is  opposed  to  their 
apparent  interests  and  to  their  feelings  he 
proves  himself  a  hero.  This  was  the  deci- 
sive deed  and  turning  point  in  the  man's 
career.  What  followed  was  but  the  large 
development  of  this  splendid  and  heroic 
action.  His  own  father,  and  a  few  choice 
spirits  defended  the  man  and  his  deed.  The 
hour  had  struck. 

While  this  was  going  on  in  one  family 
and  village,  the  great  hosts  of  the  conquer- 
ing enemy,  having  crossed  the  Jordan,  had 
spread  themselves  in  the  beautiful  valley 
of  Jezreel,  which  has  been  through  many 
centuries,  like  poor  little  Belgium,  the  bat- 


112       A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT 

tlefield  of  the  nations.  All  over  tMs  beau- 
teous expanse  of  country  the  tents  of  the 
mighty  hosts  were  pitched.  Gorgeously 
bedecked  camels,  with  chains  of  gold  about 
their  necks,  silken  tents,  lavish  display  of 
jewelry  marked  the  easy  confidence  and 
show  of  the  mighty  hosts.  Sure  of  their 
prey  and  of  their  spoil,  they  gave  them- 
selves up  to  festivity  and  display.  The 
news,  or  more  likely  the  quick  vision  of 
some  part  of  this  great  array  came  to  our 
hero  and  stirred  his  mighty  spirit.  God 
himself  touched  that  brave  heroic  heart, 
and  while  the  sounds  of  revelry  were  heard 
throughout  the  enemy's  camp,  the  keen  and 
searching  blast  of  a  tiny  horn  rang  out  a 
signal  call  from  one  of  the  hills  nearby. 
His  own  village  heard  the  stirring  note  of 
that  warlike  summons,  and  came  to  the 
sound.  It  was  a  fine  response,  but  how  few 
seemed  this  little  handful.  Others,  too, 
must  be  allowed  to  join  in  and  share  the 
danger  and  daring  and  the  hope.  Messen- 
gers were  sent  throughout  the  land,  and  a 
multitude  gathered.  Still  they  seemed  so 
few,  nor  were  they  trained  soldiers. 

The  heart  of  the  general  craved  reassur- 
ance from  God.    Without  divine  aid  it  would 


A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT        113 

still  be  a  hopeless  figlit,  and  without  divine 
reassurance  even  the  hero  would  hesitate. 
So  in  secret  prayer  once  more  ''the  mighty- 
man  of  valor"  begs  for  a  sign.  And  with 
a  bowl  and  a  fleece  he  gains  from  God  a 
promise  and  token  of  assurance  and  of  vic- 
tory. Hesitation  disappears ;  courage  rises ; 
confidence  animates;  the  morning  comes 
and  the  great  adventure  must  be  made. 
About  32,000  men  had  gathered  in  response 
to  the  leader's  call.  They  were,  however, 
untrained  and  unprepared,  and  over 
against  the  mighty  hosts  of  invaders  they 
still  seemed  pitifully  few.  Now  comes  that 
strange  intimation  from  God  that  even 
these  were  more  than  were  needed  to  ac- 
complish the  victory.  God  spoke  in  the 
soul  of  the  leader  and  said,  "Israel  might 
vaunt  himself  if  he  gained  a  victory  with 
an  army  like  this."  God  did  not  need  so 
many.  Boldly  and  confidently  the  general 
advised  all  who  desired  to  go  back  home. 
Terrified  at  the  large  army  of  invaders, 
22,000  were  glad  to  return  to  the  quiet  of 
their  homes;  10,000  remained.  What 
could  these  do  against  a  multitude?  The 
strange  dealing  of  God  still  goes  on  with 
the  hero,  and  he  is  advised  to  sift  out  a  few 


114       A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT 

of  the  choicest  spirits  even  from  the  small 
number  remaining.  By  a  simple  test  prov- 
ing foresight  and  confidence  in  the  pres- 
ence of  danger  a  choice  band  of  300  only  is 
selected.  Those  who  remained  were  to  be 
held  in  reserve  for  pursuit  and  for  the  fin- 
ishing touches  of  the  victory,  but  on  the 
chosen  300  the  surprise  attack  of  the  night 
was  to  devolve.  From  some  height  300 
picked  and  splendid  men  stood  and  looked 
do-^Ti  upon  the  beautiful  valley,  filled  with 
the  tents  and  trappings  of  a  great  and 
powerful  army.  What  thoughts  were  theirs 
we  cannot  say,  but  no  doubt  the  dauntless 
soul  of  their  hero  and  leader  had  made 
every  man  of  them  as  one  with  their  chief. 
He  was  confident  in  the  promise  of  God, 
and  resolute  with  that  splendid  courage 
which  had  stamped  him  already  as  ''a 
mighty  man  of  valor."  God  was  still  gra- 
cious to  him  in  the  way  of  giving  him  en- 
couragement, and  suggested  that  with  his 
armour-bearer  alone  he  should,  during  the 
night,  spy  about  the  camp  of  the  foe.  A 
great  risk  it  was,  but  he  did  not  decline  it, 
and  the  two  of  them,  quietly  moving  near 
the  guards,  overheard  one  telling  his  com- 
panion a  dream ;  how  a  coarse  barley  cake 


A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT        115 

had  rolled  against  a  tent  and  dashed  it  to 
the  ground.  Their  own  interpretation  of 
this  dream  was  that  it  meant  the  overthrow 
of  their  host  at  the  hand  of  this  already- 
famous  chieftain.  Two  things  were 
brought  to  the  leader's  attention  by  this  in- 
cident. One  was  that  already  there  was  a 
dread  of  him  and  his  forces  in  the  minds  of 
his  enemies.  The  other  was  a  careful  ob- 
servation of  the  ground  and  a  plan  of  at- 
tack. 

There  are  many  instances  on  record  in 
history  of  great  hosts  of  men  who  have 
been  terrified  and  put  to  flight.  So  com- 
mon was  this  in  ancient  times  that  the 
fright  of  a  multitude  earned  the  name  of 
** panic"  fear  from  the  Greek  word  which 
means  **all."  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  wit- 
ness a  panic.  Fear  communicates  itself 
rapidly  from  one  to  another,  and  a  whole 
crowd  is  thrown  into  confusion  and  terror. 
Losing  their  senses  people  seek  refuge  in 
flight.  They  tread  upon  one  another,  and 
sometimes  from  a  very  slight  cause  terrible 
disasters  follow.  Sometimes  these  panics 
have  smitten  great  armies,  even  of  brave 
men,  and  they  have  become  demoralized, 
fleeing  in  terror  from  the  field.    A  sudden 


116       A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT 

surprise  in  tlie  night-time  has  more  than 
once  in  the  annals  of  warfare  produced  ef- 
fects like  this.  Confident  in  God  and  in  the 
skill  and  courage  of  his  picked  little  band 
of  men,  the  leader  quickly  makes  his  dispo- 
sitions for  a  surprise.  His  300  could  make 
no  headway  in  an  open  fight  against  a  host, 
but  if  by  some  clever  ruse  he  could  manage 
to  produce  the  impression  that  he  was  in 
command  of  a  great  and  surrounding  army, 
he  might  hope  to  throw  the  host  into  a 
panic.  This  was  his  plan.  The  story  of 
his  triumphant  success  is  well  known.  All 
around  the  camp,  here  and  there,  upon 
some  open  space  where  a  light  could  flash, 
he  posted  his  men.  Armed  only  with  a  hid- 
den light,  with  a  ringing  trumpet,  each  one 
was  suddenly  to  display  his  light,  blow  his 
trumpet,  and  join  in  a  mighty  shout,  a  slo- 
gan of  victory.  The  ruse  succeeded  to  the 
letter.  That  great  host  became  smitten 
with  panic  fear.  They  thought  they  were 
surrounded  by  a  multitude.  From  every 
side  flashing  lights,  blowing  trumpets, 
shouts  of  victory  resounded.  Losing  all 
prudence  and  all  command,  leaving  their 
tents  and  treasures,  the  great  host  sought 
safety  in  flight.    They  became  an  easy  prey 


A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT        117 

to  their  pursuers,  who  now  increased  and 
redoubled  as  they  joined  in  the  chase  of  the 
frantic  fugitives.  Divided  and  scattered, 
the  mighty  army  melted  away.  One  part, 
under  high  command,  was  pursued  and 
overthrown  by  a  neighboring  tribe  of  Is- 
rael. The  other,  perhaps  the  main  one, 
was  followed  by  the  leader  and  his  tireless 
band,  who,  faint  yet  pursuing,  went  on  to 
complete  the  destruction  so  wonderfully 
begun. 

Stern  and  cool,  this  man  who  was  born 
for  command  rebukes  and  punishes  the 
half-hearted,  captures  and  slays  the  en- 
emies of  his  people,  allays  with  wise  and 
diplomatic  speech  the  discontent  of  some 
who  felt  aggrieved  because  they  had  not 
been  summoned  in  the  first  instance.  The 
conquering  hero  returns  amid  the  acclama- 
tions of  his  rescued  and  grateful  country- 
men. Wild  enthusiasm  rings  out  when  the 
hero  is  welcomed  home.  It  was  a  great  and 
splendid  triumph.  At  once  the  people  de- 
sired to  make  him  king,  permanent  leader 
of  their  now  delivered  and  restored  coun- 
try. But  with  modesty  as  great  as  his 
courage,  and  wisdom  in  government  as  well 


118       A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT 

as  in  war,  lie  declines,  and  points  them  to 
God,  to  whom  alone  the  victory  was  due. 

Here,  at  the  height  of  his  triumph,  we 
would  willingly  leave  him.  But  alas!  no 
human  being,  however  great,  is  free  from 
fault  and  weakness.  Why  should  a  selfish 
and  unworthy  thought  creep  into  the  mind 
of  a  great  man  at  the  very  highest  moment 
of  his  greatness?  He  would  not  have  a 
crown,  but  with  strange  inconsistency  he 
asks  that  he  may  be  rewarded  by  the  gift 
of  the  jewels  captured  from  the  foe. 
Spreading  his  garment  upon  the  ground, 
he  receives  rings  and  jewels  from  the  men 
who  passed  by  and  willingly  threw  them 
down  to  grant  their  leader's  request.  They 
act  cheerfully,  but  he  was  wrong  to  ask  and 
accept  such  a  tribute.  It  was  too  small  a 
thing  for  a  great  man  to  do.  There  was  a 
worse  element  in  it.  Out  of  this  spoil  he 
made  some  sort  of  image  or  decorated  robe, 
to  serve  as  a  kind  of  oracle.  The  vision 
vouchsafed  him  in  the  beginning  of  his  ca- 
reer, and  the  signs  graciously  granted  to 
encourage  him  were  thus  abused.  Vanity 
and  self-interest  had  turned  his  head.  This 
beauteous  creation  of  his  greed  and  super- 
stition became  a  snare  to  his  own  family 


A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT        119 

and  to  his  people.  Alas !  his  own  sons  be- 
came unworthy  of  him,  and  after  his  death 
his  people  fell  again  into  idolatry  and  wick- 
edness. Mournful  indeed  is  it  to  wind  up 
a  career  of  glory  with  a  hurtful  fault  like 
this.  More  than  once  in  the  sad  history  of 
mankind  has  a  hero  shown  some  fatal  weak- 
ness and  damaged  his  own  influence  and 
hurt  the  cause  by  his  folly.  Let  such  a  pain- 
ful and  miserable  ending  of  so  great  and 
splendid  a  career  remind  us  of  our  con- 
stant need  of  God.  The  only  safeguard  for 
any  man,  however  great  he  may  be,  is  the 
presence  and  help  of  God,  especially  in  the 
hour  of  his  temptation.  Vanity  and  super- 
stition are  not  dead.  Pride  of  achievement 
easily  degenerates  into  selfishness,  and  the 
abuse  of  religious  privilege  may  end  in 
senseless  and  unworthy  superstition. 

From  this  shadowed  close  let  us  turn 
back  to  that  brilliant  beginning,  that  hour 
of  loneliness  and  of  destiny,  when  a  hero 
met  his  God.  It  was  a  time  when  a  man,  in 
the  ordinary  pursuits  of  life,  at  a  great 
crisis  in  his  nation's  life,  met  with  his  op- 
portunity, divinely  brought,  seized  the  oc- 
casion, responded  to  the  call  of  the  High- 
est, and  bravely  went  forth  to  accomplish 


120       A  HERO  WITH  A  FAULT 

a  mighty  deliverance  for  his  people  and 
imperishable  renown  for  himself.  No  later 
fault  can  wholly  dim  the  glory  of  that  time. 
Every  man  is  at  his  best  when,  even  in  the 
simple  tasks  of  life,  his  soul  responds  to 
the  call  of  the  divine,  and  whether  on  some 
great  field  and  in  some  great  emergency,  or 
in  a  humble  sphere  and  through  the  daily 
drudgery,  he  who  hears  and  heeds  the 
voice  of  God  is  the  man  of  the  hour. 

The  great  world  war  has  shown  us  that 
heroic  courage  and  staunch  patriotism  are 
not  of  the  past  alone.  In  the  annals  of  the 
older  countries  and  our  own  new  records 
of  dauntless  valor  and  splendid  victory 
have  been  written.  Oh !  that  these  inspir- 
ing examples,  ancient  and  modern,  may  not 
be  lost  upon  those  who  have  to  fight  in 
every  age  the  battle  of  the  Lord  against 
the  hosts  of  evil  in  all  the  earth ! 

The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war 

A  kingly  crown  to  gain; 
His  blood-red  banner  streams  afar; 

Who  follows  in  His  train? 


IX 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MINISTRY  OF 
ELIJAH 

Behold  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  him,  and  he  said  unto 
him.  What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah?     1  Kings  19:  9. 

THESE  few  but  impressive  words 
came  to  the  great  prophet  of  Israel 
at  a  critical  juncture  in  his  life  and 
ministry.  They  bring  him  out  of  previous 
experiences  to  face  the  issues  of  the  pres- 
ent hour.  They  recall  him  to  his  duty  and 
his  sphere  of  activity  for  God  and  man. 
We  shall  consider,  however,  the  main  inci- 
dents of  Elijah's  great  career  as  recorded 
in  1  Kings  18: 16  to  19: 18. 

The  story  of  a  great  man  at  a  great 
crisis  is  always  interesting  and  instructive. 
The  history  of  God's  ancient  people 
abounds  with  such  cases.  One  of  the  most 
conspicuous  is  that  of  Elijah  the  Tishbite. 
He  was  an  extraordinary  character  and  he 
lived  and  acted  at  a  period  of  great  im- 
portance in  the  history  of  his  people.  His 
whole  life  and  ministry  are  full  of  instruc- 

121 


122         MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

tive  interest,  but  in  the  limits  of  the  pas- 
sage chosen  it  is  most  intense.  The  salient 
features  of  this  history  may  be  presented 
under  the  three  aspects  of  exaltation,  de- 
pression and  reassurance,  as  these  succes- 
sively had  place  in  the  experience  of  the 
man.  This  is  not  an  uncommon  circle  for 
any  man  to  tread ;  and  it  is  especially  like- 
ly to  be  the  case  with  those  who  bear  prom- 
inent part  in  religious  life  and  movement. 
But  even  in  the  hidden  recesses  of  indivi- 
dual Christian  experience  this  same  round 
is  often  measured  over,  and  we  may  find 
encouragement  and  help  in  its  manifesta- 
tion in  the  story  of  the  great  Tishbite. 

I.     Exaltation 

There  was  trouble  in  Israel.  Ahab,  sel- 
fish, weak  and  cruel,  was  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Jezebel,  his  wicked  queen.  Too 
often  the  history  of  nations  has  presented 
the  striking  but  painful  figure  of  a  strong, 
bad,  vindictive  woman  at  the  head  of  pow- 
erful forces.  It  is  a  common  remark  that 
when  a  woman  is  bad  she  is  very  bad.  A 
few  of  the  notably  wicked  women  of  history 
stand  out  with  painful  prominence  as  a  dis- 
grace to  their  sex.    Ahab,  king  of  Israel, 


MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH  123 

had  unhappily  allied  himself  with  a  woman 
of  this  kind.  Shrewd,  intelligent,  capable, 
and  cruel — she  was  the  guiding  and  cor- 
rupting spirit  of  the  government.  To  one 
thing  she  had  set  herself,  which  was  to  up- 
root the  religion  of  Israel  and  substitute 
the  heathen  divinities  of  her  own  country 
in  place  of  Jehovah,  the  true  and  living 
God.  Along  with  this  she  was  determined 
to  build  up  the  wealth  and  power  of  the 
king,  her  husband,  and  in  carrying  out  this 
design  she  stuck  at  no  cruelty  or  rapacity. 
For  the  sins  of  king  and  people,  God 
once  again  smote  the  land  with  famine.  In- 
troducing this  new  appearance  of  the 
dreaded  scourge,  there  comes  on  the  scene 
a  marked  and  wonderful  man;  a  prophet, 
sent  of  God,  to  denounce  and  rebuke  lead- 
ers and  people  for  their  religious  decay 
and  moral  corruption.  The  man  of  God 
bursts  unexpectedly  upon  the  scene. 
Shaggy,  with  long  flowing  hair,  wrapped  in 
a  coarse  cloak  of  camel's  hair  cloth,  stern, 
uncompromising,  magnificent,  he  accosts 
the  king  with  this  denunciation,  ''There 
shall  be  no  rain  for  three  years  except  at 
my  word."  Conscious  that  God  was  speak- 
ing through  him,  and  that  he  was  but  the 


124         MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

messenger  of  the  King  of  kings,  he  faltered 
not  to  deliver  his  stern  and  searching  mes- 
sage. So  for  the  three  weary  years  a  parched 
land  suffers  once  more  under  withering 
drought.  The  herbage  failed,  the  springs 
ran  dry,  the  cisterns  were  unreplenished, 
the  people  and  the  animals  alike  were  per- 
ishing with  thirst  and  hunger.  In  one  way 
and  another  God  took  care  of  his  messen- 
ger. And  the  mighty  prophet,  now  by  the 
instincts  of  the  birds  of  the  air  and  now  at 
the  gentle  hands  of  an  impoverished  widow, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  is  miraculously 
sustained.  The  weary  three  years '  period 
finally  comes  towards  its  end.  The  scourge 
of  God  has  been  felt.  The  pious  in  the  land 
have  prayed  through  the  suffering  seasons, 
and  the  day  of  their  deliverance  is  coming. 
Penitent,  not  a  few  find  their  sorrowful 
way  back  to  the  living  God.  Perhaps  the 
mighty  prophet  thought  that  even  the 
forces  of  evil  had  been  shaken  and  the  time 
had  come  to  make  a  public  test  and  clear 
the  land  of  idolatry  and  decay.  Eough  and 
imperious  still,  he  orders  the  weak  and  yet 
not  incapable  king  to  summon  the  priests 
of  the  hated  religion,  the  favorites  of  the 


MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH  125 

wicked  queen,  to  test  the  issue  in  a  mighty 
meeting  on  Carmel's  jagged  height. 

One  of  the  most  vivid  descriptions  in  all 
literature  is  that  which  is  brought  to  us 
of  this  great  occasion.  The  simple  narra- 
tive of  the  Bible  is  sublime  and  striking. 
No  one  can  tell  it  better  than  the  sacred  his- 
torian has  done.  We  recall  the  description 
which  here  may  only  be  touched  upon.  All 
day  long  the  assembled  multitude  of  priests 
called  in  vain  upon  their  god  for  some  dis-. 
play  of  power  to  convince  the  people  that 
their  religion  was  the  right  one.  Morning 
came  to  noon,  and  noon  declined  until  the 
long  shadows  were  beginning  to  stretch 
along  the  coast,  by  the  peaks  of  Carmel,  and 
over  the  beautiful,  though  now  blistered, 
valley  of  Jezreel.  Grand  and  strong  the 
mighty  old  prophet  calls  upon  Jehovah  to 
show  himself  by  an  unmistakable  sign  as 
the  true  God  for  Israel  and  the  world.  Nor 
does  he  ask  in  vain.  The  lightning,  herald 
of  the  coming  storm,  guided  from  God, 
finds  the  wet  altar  and  kindles  it  into  flame. 
A  mighty  shout  rises  from  the  assembled 
crowd — *  *  Jehovah,  he  is  God. ' '  Turning  in 
wrath  upon  the  defeated  priests  of  heathen- 
ism, the  crowd  visits  swift  and  terrible 


126         MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

pumshment  upon  them  all.  Meantime  the 
weary  but  triumphant  prophet  goes  with 
his  servant  to  the  top  of  the  mountain  to 
look  out  towards  the  western  sea  to  per- 
ceive whether  the  electric  storm  portended 
the  rising  cloud.  And  yonder,  far  away, 
like  a  scrap  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand, 
the  coming  rain  shows  its  first  faint  sign. 
Now  at  last  the  three  years'  drought  is  to 
be  broken.  Forgetful  of  his  fatigue,  if  he 
even  felt  it,  the  tough  son  of  the  desert 
girds  his  flowing  robe  around  his  waist  and 
dashes  with  the  swift  speed  of  the  desert 
runner  before  the  chariot  of  the  defeated 
and  humbled  king  toward  the  capital  city. 
Down  pours  the  rain  in  such  a  torrent  as 
has  never  been  witnessed  before.  The 
mighty  man  of  God  felt  assured  of  victory. 
Here  let  us  pause  and  reflect.  This  is 
the  summit  of  Elijah's  exaltation.  He 
seemed  to  have  everything  before  him.  The 
people  had  shouted  their  enthusiastic  ap- 
proval of  him  and  renewed  their  allegiance 
to  God.  The  rain  had  come  down  in  tor- 
rents to  refresh  the  long  wasted  earth.  The 
prophet,  victorious  but  weary,  comes  to  the 
capital  of  the  kingdom.  With  what  a  glow 
of  rejoicing,  with  what  exaltation  of  spirits, 


MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH  127 

lie  must  have  reached  the  city.  His  fidel- 
ity has  been  rewarded,  his  glowing  zeal  has 
found  response,  his  faith  in  God  has  been 
justified.  We  can  imagine  his  joy  and  tri- 
umph in  this  hour.  Nothing  sweeter  ever 
comes  to  a  man  than  the  hour  in  which  his 
long  and  painful  advocacy  of  righteous 
things  seems  to  come  to  its  fruition.  In 
greater  or  less  degree  all  leaders  have  such 
moments.  These  victorious  hours  in  the 
midst  of  an  arduous  career  are  resting 
places  for  faith  and  confidence.  Yet  there 
ever  lurks  here  a  hidden  peril,  a  peril  which 
grows  out  of  the  reaction  of  the  soul  that 
has  been  strained  to  a  tense  and  exalted  ex- 
perience, through  the  weariness  of  body 
and  exhaustion  of  nerve  that  must  follow 
such  tension;  and  the  peril  is  increased 
when  it  must  be  remembered  that  no  such 
victory  as  that  of  Elijah  could  ever  be  com- 
plete. The  forces  of  evil,  silenced  for  a 
moment,  are  not  put  out  of  existence.  The 
slaying  of  the  priests  of  Baal  did  not  mean 
necessarily  rooting  out  all  idolatrous  in- 
fluence among  the  people.  Popular  ap- 
plause does  not  always  signify  a  real 
change  in  the  habits  of  thought  or  in  the 


128         MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

moral  character  of  tlie  people.    The  reac- 
tion must  come. 

II.    Depression 

"We  may  imagine  Elijah,  wearied  but 
hopeful,  waiting  for  a  day  or  longer,  in  the 
capital,  hoping  for  some  movement  of  the 
people  or  of  the  rebuked  king,  to  result  in 
the  great  religious  change  which  he  so  ear- 
nestly desired.  But  while  he  waits,  the 
vindictive  spirit  of  that  terrible  woman, 
his  sworn  enemy  and  the  enemy  of  God, 
flashes  up  in  a  flame  of  hate  and  resistless 
wrath.  Pity  that  such  a  dauntless  spirit 
was  lodged  in  a  character  so  corrupt.  What 
a  woman  she  would  have  been  if  she  had 
been  good!  Swearing  a  terrible  oath,  she 
sends  a  message  to  the  strong  man  that  in 
twenty-four  hours  his  life  would  pay  the 
penalty  of  his  daring.  Would  he  quail  or 
stand?  A  great  crisis  was  there.  Would 
he  give  way,  or,  like  others  of  his  kind  even 
greater,  would  he  lose  his  head  before  he 
would  sacrifice  his  principles?  Alas! 
human  nature  proves  too  weak  at  the 
strain,  and  he  who  had  stood  heroic  and 
grand,  alone  in  a  crowd,  undaunted  before 
a  king,  trembled  in  his  soul  before  a  worn- 


MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH  129 

an's  word,  and  turned  in  flight.  Oh!  fatal 
weakness  at  a  critical  moment. 

Far  yonder  to  the  south,  across  the  des- 
ert, a  lonely  man  lies  prostrate  in  the  heat, 
under  the  scanty  shade  of  a  desert  bush. 
The  shaggy  hair  all  tangled,  the  hairy  coat 
all  rumpled,  the  prostrate  figure  itself  a 
crumpled  thing  instead  of  a  tower  of 
strength.  Let  us  hear  him  as  his  crushed 
and  broken  spirit  complains.  It  is  the 
same  tongue,  but  not  the  same  voice  that 
was  heard  summoning  the  people  to  their 
God.  The  manly  tones  have  sunk  to  a  whin- 
ing whisper  as  the  defeated  and  humiliated 
hero  recognizes  his  fault  and  pleads  to  be 
dismissed  from  the  scene.  It  was  borne  in 
upon  his  soul  that  though  God  had  sum- 
moned him  to  a  great  task  he  himself  was 
only  human,  no  better  than  his  brethren, 
no  better  than  his  rebellious  and  faint- 
hearted fathers.  He  feels  that  his  work  is 
a  failure,  his  life  a  blunder,  his  whole  man- 
hood sunken  and  gone. 

Let  us  approach  and  listen.  The  form 
indeed  is  that  of  Elijah.  Can  we  recognize 
the  voice  ?  It  does  not  sound  as  it  did  when 
in  bold  challenge  he  dared  Ahab  to  his  face, 
not  as  when  in  earnest  appeal  he  pleaded 


130         MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

with  the  people  to  return  to  God,  not  as 
when  in  cruel  scorn  he  taunted  the  baffled 
priests  of  Baal,  not  as  when  in  rapt  suppli- 
cation he  poured  out  his  soul  to  God  that 
he  would  declare  himself  to  his  people.  No ; 
the  voice  has  sunk  to  a  low  wail  of  despair 
and  the  burden  of  his  request  finds  utter- 
ance in  these  pathetic  words:  ''It  is 
enough ;  now,  0  Lord,  take  away  my  life ; 
for  I  am  not  better  than  my  fathers. ' '  We 
ask  in  amazement.  Is  this  possible?  Can 
this  be  the  same  man?  But  before  our 
wonder  passes  into  censure,  let  us  take 
thought  of  the  patience  of  God.  Where 
would  any  of  us  be  if  God  did  not  bear  with 
our  faults,  our  failures ;  if  God  did  not  res- 
cue us  from  our  own  painful  reactions  and 
give  us  another  chance?  Can  we  not  un- 
derstand Elijah 's  plaintive  cry  ?  It  was  the 
moan  of  a  brave  spirit  crushed  with  defeat 
and  mortification.  Often  do  good  men  and 
true  in  the  crises  of  life  and  after  a  bold 
stand  suffer  some  failing  of  nerve,  and  fall. 
Then  comes  chagrin,  despair.  And  it  is 
all  the  more  bitter  if,  as  in  Elijah's  case, 
there  has  been  great  seeming  success  and 
exaltation  of  spirits  just  before.  We  can- 
not fail  to  comprehend  in  some  measure 


MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH  131 

Elijah's  state  of  mind ;  but  we  need  not  ap- 
prove it.  On  the  contrary  we  should  con- 
demn it.  We  feel  the  force  of  James '  dec- 
laration that,  ''Elias  was  a  man  subject  to 
like  passions  as  we  are."  So  we  can  de- 
plore his  fall,  and  humbly  learn  a  lesson 
from  it.  So  quickly  does  night  come  after 
the  day,  and  the  brighter  the  day  has  been 
the  darker  seems  the  night ! 

III.    Eeassurance. 

Again  the  scene  changes.  God  has  not 
forgotten  to  be  gracious,  even  though  his 
chosen  servant,  a  mighty  man,  had  broken 
down  and  failed  at  a  critical  moment.  Here 
in  the  desert,  under  the  shade,  God  speaks 
with  him,  provides  him  miraculously  with 
necessary  food,  cheers  him  with  his  pres- 
ence, and  strengthens  him  in  body  that  he 
might  make  the  long  journey  to  another 
place.  Fear  drives  him  still  further,  but 
he  is  beginning  to  find  himself.  Far  across 
the  desert  he  pursues  his  way  down  to  that 
silent  mountain  where  ages  before  God  had 
spoken  face  to  face  with  Moses — Horeb, 
the  Mount  of  God.  What  associations  clus- 
ter about  this  place!  It  was  here  that 
Moses  saw  the  burning  bush  and  in  weak- 


132         MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

ness  and  trembling  was  sent  on  his  perilous 
mission  to  Egypt.  It  was  here  that  later 
on  he  smote  the  rock  and  brought  forth  the 
water  to  revive  the  perishing  and  murmur- 
ing people.  Here  also  was  Sinai  with  its 
wonderful  memories  of  law  and  death! 
Here  then  we  find  our  prophet  next,  hiding 
in  a  cave.  Then  comes  the  searching  ques- 
tion, "What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah!" 

He,  like  Moses,  meets  God  in  this  moun- 
tain country.  He  recounts  his  zeal  for  the 
Lord.  He  tells  the  mournful  story  of  apos- 
tasy and  downfall.  He  piteously  describes 
himself  as  the  last  weak  fugitive  of  what 
was  once  God's  people.  ''And  they  seek 
my  life  to  take  it  away!"  But  the  com- 
mand is  for  him  to  stand  upon  the  Mount 
of  God.  Then  comes  that  wonderful  inter- 
view. The  rending  mountains  and  crush- 
ing rocks  as  they  are  torn  and  shaken  by 
wind  and  earthquake  tell  of  the  presence  of 
Jehovah;  but  yet,  ''The  Lord  was  not  in 
the  wind, ' '  nor  the  earthquake.  Then  came 
flashing  fires,  as  once  before  here  in  Horeb, 
the  symbol  of  God's  consuming  might. 
*'But  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  fire."  The 
grand  old  prophet  doubtless  stood  awed, 
but  not  terrified  by  these  splendors.     He 


MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH  133 

might  quail  and  flee  before  Jezebel's 
anger,  but  he  was  not  afraid  to  be  alone 
amid  crashing  mountains  with  Jehovah. 
These  show  him  God's  awful  might;  and 
yet  they  are  not  the  last  expression  of  God 's 
working  against  sin.  ''And  after  the  fire 
a  still  small  voice."  God  was  there.  "And 
it  was  so  that  when  Elijah  heard  it  he 
wrapped  his  face  in  his  mantle  and  went 
out  and  stood  in  the  entering  in  of  the 
cave."  It  was  his  rebuke.  He  meekly  re- 
ceives it.  "Not  by  might,  nor  by  power, 
but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord. ' '  Not  by 
great  victories  and  alarming  displays,  but 
by  quiet  and  blessed  influences  is  God's 
work  to  be  done.  Elijah  repeats  his  tale  of 
woe  and  trouble.  But  God  commissions 
him  to  new  and  continued  duties.  He  can- 
not yet  spare  his  servant  and  will,  when 
the  time  comes,  take  him  to  himself  in  a 
nobler  way  than  he  had  asked  for. 

Instructed  by  these  lessons,  Elijah  must 
return  to  his  place  and  his  people.  But  be- 
fore dismissing  him  the  Lord  rebukes  his 
faintheartedness  and  rekindles  his  energies 
and  hopefulness  by  the  glad  announcement, 
**Yet  I  have  left  me  seven  thousand  in  Is- 


134  MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

rael,  all  the  knees  which  have  not  bowed 
unto  Baal. ' ' 

Thus  Elijah  was  reminded  that  things 
were  not  so  bad  in  Israel  as  in  his  extreme 
depression  he  had  supposed.  He  must  go 
back  among  his  people  and  ally  himself 
with  that  minority  which  still  stood  for  re- 
ligion and  truth.  He  must  be  their  leader 
and  no  more  run  away  and  leave  them,  sup- 
posing himself  to  be  alone.  If  his  exalta- 
tion at  Carmel  had  lifted  him  too  high,  his 
depression  in  the  wilderness  had  sunk  him 
too  low.  He  must  find  the  middle  ground. 
It  is  not  too  much  optimism  on  the  one 
hand,  nor  too  much  pessimism  on  the  other 
that  makes  for  success. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle  Elijah 
is  instructed  on  his  return  to  make  provi- 
sion for  the  continuance  of  the  prophetic 
office  and  of  the  religious  life  in  Israel.  He 
is  to  find  Elisha,  the  son  of  Shaphat,  whom 
he  must  call  to  be  his  follower  and  upon 
whom  afterward  the  spirit  of  Elijah  shall 
descend  that  he  might  carry  on  the  work  of 
the  prophet  after  his  glorious  translation 
to  heaven.  Nor  is  this  all.  On  his  way 
back  he  must  anoint  Hazael  to  be  king  over 
Syria.    He  is  to  be  the  scourge  of  Ahab  and 


MINISTKY  OF  ELIJAH  135 

his  people.  Elijah  must  be  reminded  that 
God  overules  the  affairs  of  men,  that  he 
makes  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him  and 
uses  for  the  chastening  of  his  people  the 
rod  which  his  enemies  furnish.  Elijah 
might  shrink,  but  God  is  not  dead.  In  Is- 
rael he  has  his  people.  Over  the  world  he 
has  his  way.  God  rules  in  the  affairs  of 
men  and  cares  for  the  humble  and  trustful 
who  in  bad  times  maintain  their  touch  with 
God  and  hold  fast  the  treasure  of  divine 
truth  and  life. 

Is  this  all  that  earth  shall  see  of  Elijah? 
No.  Far  down  the  centuries,  once  more 
upon  a  mountain  top,  that  majestic  figure 
will  reappear  to  human  vision.  Three  dis- 
ciples shall  see  three  figures.  Moses,  Eli- 
jah and  Jesus  will  appear  to  the  dazed  and 
wondering  eyes  of  three  men,  half  awake, 
yet  fully  conscious  of  a  glorious  vision. 
Somehow  these  three  will  recognize  the 
great  personality  of  the  ancient  prophet 
as  he  comes  to  join  with  the  mighty  law- 
giver in  conversation  respecting  the  com- 
ing departure  of  the  Saviour  himself. 
Three  mountain-top  experiences  stand  out 
in  the  life  of  this  man :  Carmel,  the  scene 
of  his  triumph,  which  ended  in  disappoint- 


136  MINISTRY  OF  ELIJAH 

ment ;  Sinai,  the  scene  of  his  rebuke,  which 
brought  new  activity  and  showed  the  right 
way  to  work  for  God;  and  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration,  where  Moses  and  Elijah 
mingled  their  counsel  and  encouragement 
to  cheer  the  human  Christ  in  view  of  his 
own  coming  death  and  resurrection. 

Many  important  and  powerful  lessons 
come  to  us  as  we  follow  the  story  of  that 
great  life.  One  above  all  lingers  with  us 
as  it  is  drawn  by  the  inspired  hand,  in 
words  which  remind  us  that  Elijah  was  a 
man  of  like  nature  with  ourselves,  yet  he 
was  a  mighty  man  of  prayer.  It  is  not  for 
us  to  be  great  as  he  was  great,  yet  all  of 
us  are  human  as  he  was  human.  The  great- 
est are  faulty;  so  are  we.  Yet  from  the 
souls  of  weak  and  even  unworthy  men 
prayers  that  reach  the  throne  of  God  may 
ascend. 

"More  things  are  Trrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of.     Wherefore,  let  thy  voice 
Eise  like  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day. 
For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 
That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 
If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 
Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend? 
For  so  the  whole  round  earth  is  every  way 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God. ' ' 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

For  It  became  him,  for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom 
are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make  the 
captain  of  their  salvation  perfect  through  suffering.  He- 
brews 2  :  10. 

THE  text  fully  and  beautifully  implies 
the  absolute  sovereignty  of  God. 
His  name  is  not  mentioned,  but  he 
is  described  as  one  for  whom  all  things 
exist  and  by  whom  all  things  came  into 
being.  He  is  the  origin  and  the  end  of  all 
things.  This  thought  is  concentrated  into 
the  statement,  that  in  accomplishing  the 
salvation  of  sinners  he  is  the  supreme 
actor,  and  that  the  sovereign  act  of  salva- 
tion is  brought  to  its  accomplishment  by 
the  provision  of  a  perfect  Saviour.  Not 
the  free  will  of  man,  not  even  the  voluntary 
self-sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  can  conflict 
with,  much  less  overthrow,  the  supreme 
fact  that  the  salvation  of  men  is  a  sovereign 
action  of  God.  So  far  from  being  a  harsh 
and  forbidding  doctrine,  this  truth  should 
be  and  is  fraught  with  sweet  and  strong 

137 


138    SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

consolation.  The  thoughts  of  the  text  bring 
out  and  enforce  this  divine  sovereignty 
very  plainly  and  in  several  ways. 

I.     God  Brings  Many  Sons  Unto  Gloey 

Here  answer  is  made  to  the  earnest  ques- 
tion of  the  disciples  when  once  they  asked, 
''Lord,  are  there  many  that  be  saved!" 
At  that  time  Jesus  did  not  answer  the  ques- 
tion directly,  but  urged  upon  his  hearers 
that  the  way  to  death  was  broad  and  easy 
and  the  way  to  life  was  narrow  and  difficult, 
so  that  it  was  incumbent  upon  each  one  to 
strive  to  enter  in.  Many  indeed  are  lost. 
This  thought  should  fill  us  with  sorrow  and 
impel  us  to  earnest  efforts  to  make  known 
the  saving  grace  of  God.  But  let  us  gladly 
rejoice  in  the  multitude  of  the  saved.  It  is 
not  a  struggling  few,  but  a  glorious  com- 
pany of  the  redeemed  who  shall  reach  the 
eternal  rest  and  glory  of  the  heavenly 
world.  This  vision  of  the  saved  many  was 
vouchsafed  to  John  in  the  visions  given  to 
him  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos.  In  Revelation 
7 :  9  we  are  told  of  the  multiplied  thousands 
Avho  praise  God  and  rejoice  together.  It  is 
a  great  multitude  which  no  man  can  num- 
ber, of  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  people. 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    139 

These  are  more  than  saved.  Our  text 
tells  us  they  are  sons.  We  must  not  think 
of  salvation,  either  in  its  beginning  here 
or  its  completion  hereafter,  as  being  merely 
deliverance  from  the  burden  and  the  pen- 
alty of  sin.  It  is  entrance  into  the  filial  re- 
lationship with  God  and  the  development 
of  that  sonship  to  its  perfection  in  the  eter- 
nal life.  To  receive  the  blessing  of  sonship 
now  and  in  the  consciousness  of  it  to  come 
to  God  as  our  Father  (Rom.  8:14,  15)  is 
one  of  the  most  precious  of  the  believer's 
privileges.  This  consciousness  of  sonship 
to  God,  mediated  to  us  through  the  saving 
work  of  Christ  and  wrought  into  our  own 
thought  and  feeling  by  the  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  grows  to  its  fullest  realiza- 
tion in  the  future  life. 

This  is  shown  to  us  in  our  text  by  the 
use  of  the  word  ''glory."  In  a  former  dis- 
course this  term  was  expounded  as  carry- 
ing with  it  the  idea  of  a  state  of  consum- 
mate excellence.  Here  let  us  recall  some 
of  the  things  involved  in  this  general  con- 
ception. In  the  Scriptures  the  glory  of 
God  is  a  frequent  expression  for  the  high- 
est dignity  and  excellence  of  the  divine  na- 
ture and  person.    So  also  the  thought  of 


140    SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

glory  as  a  state  of  human  perfection  in- 
volves the  vision  and  enjoyment  of  God. 
The  old  theologians  had  an  expression  for 
that.  They  called  it  the  beatific  vision,  the 
thought  of  seeing  God  in  his  beauty  as  the 
Psalmist  indicates  (Psalm  27:4).  We  can 
only  describe  these  things  in  terms  of  our 
present  experience  and  language.  Glory  is 
to  see  God  in  all  the  perfection  of  his  being 
and  of  his  nature.  Moreover,  as  John  tells 
us,  it  is  to  be  partakers  in  our  measure  of 
that  glory.  When  we  see  him  as  he  is,  we 
shall  be  like  him  (1  John  3:2). 

Glory  also  means  the  triumph  of  Christ  *s 
kingdom  and  redemption.  Those  who  are 
brought  as  sons  unto  this  state  of  supreme 
felicity  share  in  the  joy  and  triumph  of  the 
Saviour.  He,  for  the  joy  that  was  set  be- 
fore him  (Heb.  12:2)  endured  the  cross; 
and  that  joy  would  be  the  triumph  of  the 
cross.  So  they  who  shall  be  brought  to 
share  in  the  final  reality  of  redemption 
shall  see  the  thing  which  they  loved  and 
worked  for  in  its  victorious  consummation, 
and  their  own  deliverance  fully  accom- 
plished with  that  of  the  redeemed  multi- 
tude. We  must  always  remember  that  sal- 
vation, while  necessarily  personal,  is  not 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    141 

selfish.  It  must  be  both  individual  and  so- 
cial. It  would  not  be  a  joyous  heaven  un- 
less others  with  ourselves  were  saved. 
Heaven  is  no  lonely  condition.  Every  one 
who  is  redeemed  rejoices  in  the  redemption 
of  all  the  rest.  It  is  wrong  in  thought  or 
feeling  to  separate  these  things,  for  they 
cannot  be  separated.  One  of  our  beautiful 
hymns  reminds  us  of  the  "social  joys"  in 
the  golden  Jerusalem.  To  be  a  sharer  in  a 
perfect  state  is  indeed  a  blessing  beyond 
words. 

Hence  we  are  brought  to  consider  that 
the  glory  to  which  the  sons  of  God  are 
brought  means  the  expansion  and  perfec- 
tion of  their  own  personal  excellences.  It 
means  the  full  attainment  of  all  our  best 
hopes  and  aspirations.  It  holds  before  us 
the  entrancing  conception  of  a  conscious 
realization  of  our  best  selves.  It  means 
that  the  soul  can  at  last  be  perfectly  satis- 
fied with  itself  where  self-satisfaction  can 
not  be  itself  a  sin. 

II.     God  Makes  the  Captain  of  Their  Sal- 
vation Perfect  Through  Suffering 

The  sovereignty  of  God  in  saving  men 
is  brought  out  in  the  method  he  has  chosen 


142    SOVEEEIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

for  the  accomplisliinent  of  that  divine  pur- 
pose. Men  having  neither  wisdom  nor  vir- 
tue sufficient  to  accomplish  their  own  sal- 
vation by  coming  of  themselves  unto  glory, 
God  provides  for  them  a  Saviour.  He  is 
called  ''the  Captain  of  their  salvation." 
The  Greek  word  here  means  more  than  that 
military  term  would  suggest.  It  describes 
one  who  takes  the  lead  in  anything,  and  so 
an  author  or  originator,  one  who  comes  to 
be  the  chief  leader  or  the  prince ;  and  it  is 
thus  that  Jesus  is  here  described.  In  the 
matter  of  saving  men  from  their  sins  and 
bringing  them  to  their  perfection,  he  takes 
the  lead  and  accomplishes  the  fact.  Thus 
it  is  not  merely  salvation  in  the  abstract 
which  God  provides,  but  a  personal  living 
Saviour,  a  founder,  a  leader,  a  perfecter 
of  the  great  process  and  consummation 
which  we  understand  by  the  one  word  sal- 
vation. We  need  continually  to  emphasize 
this  fact  in  our  thinking  and  in  our  deepest 
consciousness  of  religion.  The  reality  of 
it  and  the  final  fulfilment  of  it  grow  out  of 
our  personal  union  with  the  Saviour.  Sal- 
vation is  not  the  result  of  a  mere  intellec- 
tual process  of  accepting  a  truth  or  a  set  of 
truths,  nor  of  feelings  of  depression  and 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    143 

relief  in  regard  to  sin.  Evcrj^vhere  our 
Lord  himself,  and  those  who  have  taught 
us  of  him,  make  this  emphatic.  His  con- 
stant plea  is  to  believe  in  him,  to  trust  him, 
to  come  to  him.  To  sum  it  up  in  a  phrase : 
Salvation  is  by  a  Saviour. 

Our  text  tells  us  that  he  is  a  perfect  Sav- 
iour, as  it  is  said  elsewhere,  "able  to  save 
unto  the  uttermost  those  who  come  unto 
him."  Notice  that  the  word  ''perfect" 
here  describes  his  perfection  in  office  rather 
than  in  character.  He  was  a  perfect  man, 
he  is  a  perfect  man ;  and  with  this  he  is  a 
perfect  Saviour.  He  was  perfectly  fitted 
to  be  the  Saviour  of  men  from  sin,  as  one 
may  be  perfectly  fitted  for  some  great  of- 
fice and  duty.  The  text  tells  us  how  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation  was  thus  perfectly 
fitted  for  his  task  of  saving  men.  It  is  a 
wondrous  thought;  it  was  through  suffer- 
ings. He  could  not  have  been  a  perfect 
Saviour  without  the  sorrows  through  which 
he  passed. 

We  are  not  left  at  a  loss  with  regard  to 
the  nature  and  meaning  of  the  sufferings 
which  he  endured  in  order  that  through 
them  he  might  be  a  perfect  Saviour.  In  the 
context,   in   other   places   throughout   the 


144    SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  in  other  Scrip- 
tures, the  meaning  of  this  profound  state- 
ment is  made  clear  and  emphatic.  We  may- 
summarize  it  by  saying  that  Jesus  suffered 
death,  in  order  that  he  might  deliver  from 
death;  and  temptation,  that  he  might  de- 
liver from  temptation. 

He  suffered  death.  And  this  means  not 
only  the  pain  and  trial  of  death  whether  an- 
ticipated or  actually  endured  in  the  final 
conflict,  but  death  with  its  religious  conno- 
tation, death  as  a  penalty,  death  as  the  con- 
sequence of  sin.  This  is  made  clear  to  us 
in  the  verse  which  immediately  precedes 
our  text,  that  *' because  of  the  suffering  of 
death,  he  was  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor,  that  by  the  grace  of  God  he  should 
taste  of  death  for  every  man."  Whatever 
death  means  as  a  pain  and  penalty  to 
human  nature,  that  Jesus  endured  be- 
cause he  had  taken  upon  himself  that 
human  nature  and  identified  himself  with 
it  in  its  pains  and  penalties.  This  is  indeed 
a  wondrous  statement  that  he  tasted  death 
for  every  man.  It  was  as  if  he  suffered 
the  accumulated  pain  of  each  and  every 
man's  death.  And  this,  as  we  learn  from 
other  Scriptures,  means  that  he  was  man's 


SOVEEEIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    145 

substitute;  that  in  his  own  death  he  of- 
fered a  sacrifice  for  sin,  thus  taking  the 
guilty  sinner's  place.  More  definitely  is 
this  brought  out  in  Heb.  7:  26,  27:    ''For 

such  a  high  priest  became  us who  need- 

eth  not  daily,  like  those  high  priests,  to 
offer  up  sacrifices  first  for  his  own  sins, 
and  then  for  the  sins  of  the  people:  for 
this  he  did  once  for  all  when  he  offered  up 
himself. ' '  Again  in  Heb.  10 : 4-10,  the  sacri- 
ficial meaning  and  voluntary  character  of 
our  Lord's  death  are  set  forth,  the  state- 
ment closing  with  the  words  that  ''we  have 
been  sanctified  through  the  offering  of  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all."  In 
many  other  Scriptures  this  great  truth  is 
solemnly  declared.  Jesus  himself  spoke  of 
giving  himself  a  ransom  for  many.  Paul 
builds  the  great  argument  of  Eomans 
around  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ,  and 
through  all  the  New  Testament  this  truth 
is  again  and  again  brought  to  the  front. 
That  this  death  of  Christ  is  the  ground  of  a 
real  deliverance  from  sin  also  appears  in 
many  of  these  passages.  Further  along  in 
this  chapter  we  are  told  that  Jesus  became 
partaker  of  the  humanity  of  man  that 
through  death  he  might  bring  to  naught 


146    SOVEEEIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

him  tliat  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is, 
the  devil,  and  might  deliver  all  them  who 
through  fear  of  death  were  all  their  lifetime 
subject  to  bondage.  This  does  not  mean 
only  the  deliverance  from  the  dread  of 
death  as  a  calamity  but  from  the  conse- 
quences of  death  in  all  its  spiritual  dark- 
ness and  suffering.  The  teaching,  then,  is 
that  Jesus  could  not  have  been  a  perfect 
Saviour  from  death  and  its  consequences 
unless  he  himself  had  endured  death  and 
have  found  in  it  the  bitter  cup  from  which 
he  shrank  in  Gethsemane  and  yet  accepted 
as  the  necessary  condition  of  salvation  to 
mankind. 

The  other  form  of  suffering  suggested  in 
the  context  is  that  of  temptation.  The 
greatest  sorrow  of  humanity  is  its  conflict 
with  sin.  All  through  the  course  of  human 
history  this  is  the  shadow  that  falls,  this 
is  the  burden  that  oppresses,  this  is  the 
sting  that  pierces,  this  is  the  horror  that 
alarms,  this  is  the  failure  that  shames,  this 
is  the  disappointment  that  grieves.  All 
that  sin  means  in  human  consciousness,  in 
human  life,  in  human  history,  in  human 
punishment  by  death  and  after  death,  this 
is  the  distinctive  human  sorrow. 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    147 

We  fall  into  sin  through  temptation.  Our 
first  parents  fell  in  that  way  and  all  men 
and  women  have  fallen  in  that  way  ever 
since  the  first  sin.  And  Jesus  could  not 
have  been  a  perfect  Saviour  from  sin  un- 
less he  had  been  tempted  and  have  con- 
quered temptation,  just  as  he  died  and  yet 
conquered  death.  So  in  the  beautiful  lan- 
guage with  which  this  second  chapter 
closes,  we  are  told  ''It  behooved  him  in  all 
things  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren, 
that  he  might  become  a  merciful  and  faith- 
ful high  priest  in  things  pertaining  to  God, 
to  make  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the 
people.  For  in  that  he  himself  hath  suf- 
fered being  tempted,  he  is  able  to  succor 
them  that  are  tempted.'*  His  temptation 
was  not  a  mere  show :  it  was  the  agony  of 
a  wrestling  human  soul.  He  was  sinless 
because  he  conquered  sin.  It  was  somehow 
necessary  that  it  should  be  a  real  tempta- 
tion to  him  in  order  that  his  victory  over 
it  might  be  a  real  victory  for  himself  and 
for  us.  All  that  was  human  in  him  gath- 
ered itself  in  strength  to  withstand  the  on- 
slaught of  the  tempter.  Thanks  be  to  God 
he  came  off  victor  there,  but  it  was  not 
without  suffering  on  his  part.    He  did  not 


148    SOVEEEIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

wave  the  tempter  away  by  the  hand  of  di- 
vine sovereignty,  but  met  him  like  a  human 
hero  and  drove  him  conquered  from  the 
field.  So  he  becomes  our  refuge  in  temp- 
tation. He  knows  what  it  means  to  be 
tempted,  though  he  did  not  know  what  it 
was  to  fall.  Yet  our  falls  invite  his  sym- 
pathy and  receive  it.  He  looked  upon 
Peter  and  the  shamed  apostle  went  out  into 
the  dark  and  wept.  He  restored  him  to  his 
love  in  the  scene  at  the  lakeside  and  ap- 
pointed him  the  guide  of  his  sheep.  Thou- 
sands of  those  who  have  known  Christ's 
saving  grace  have  also  comfortably  ac- 
knowledged the  strength  of  his  saving 
power  in  temptation.  He  knows  to  the  ut- 
termost what  we  are,  and  therefore  he  can 
save  to  the  uttermost  those  who  come  unto 
God  by  him.  Thus  through  the  suffering 
of  temptation  and  of  death  he  was  made  a 
perfect  Saviour,  perfect  in  sympathy,  and 
perfect  in  sacrifice.  It  was  God  who  so 
loved  the  world  as  to  give  his  only  begotten 
Son  who  made  such  a  deliverance  through 
him  possible.  And  so  we  come  back  to  the 
point  from  which  we  started — the  provid- 
ing of  a  perfect  Saviour  through  whom 
many  sons  may  be  brought  unto  glory  is 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    149 

the  outflow  and  effect  of  sovereign  grace. 
One  thought  remains. 

III.    As  Creator  and  Sovereign  God  is 
Glorified  in  This  Work 

Striking  indeed  is  the  expression  here. 
Such  a  mode  of  procedure,  it  is  said,  "be- 
came him. ' '  It  was  perfectly  suited  to  the 
dignity  and  the  character  of  God  to  bring 
many  sons  unto  glory  by  perfecting  for 
them  a  Saviour  through  the  discipline  of 
suffering.  Let  your  minds  dwell  on  this 
point.  This  way  of  salvation  for  men  be- 
came God.  What  poor  judges  we  are  of 
what  is  becoming  to  God !  Who  are  we  to 
say  that  such  a  course  of  action  was  not  in 
accordance  with  the  highest  ideal  we  can 
form  of  God!  It  is  a  sorrowful  fact  that 
all  along  from  the  first  promulgation  of 
the  gospel  men  have  been  found  who  ob- 
jected to  this  plan  of  salvation  as  unbecom- 
ing to  God.  In  unforgetable  language 
Paul  tells  us  this  in  1  Corinthians  1 :  23 : 
*'We  preach  Christ  crucified,  unto  Jews  a 
stumblingblock,  and  unto  Gentiles  foolish- 
ness. ' '  To  the  one  class  the  cross  of  Christ 
was  an  offense.  Pilate  realized  this  when 
he  refused  to  alter  the  inscription  over  the 


150    SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

cross.  The  Jews  were  horrified  that  one 
who  claimed  to  be  their  Messiah  and  their 
King  should  suffer  the  death  of  a  criminal 
under  Roman  government.  And  as  they 
were  in  some  sense  accomplices  to  the  deed, 
all  the  more  was  it  an  offense  to  them  to 
have  it  proclaimed  of  them,  as  Peter  did, 
that  though  they  through  lawless  hands 
crucified  their  Lord,  God  had  on  that  ac- 
count appointed  him  a  Prince  and  a  Sav- 
iour. And  the  offense  of  the  cross  has  not 
ceased  except  to  those  who  have  found  it 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  There  is 
even  a  dainty  phase  of  Christian  thought 
that  shrinks  from  the  cross  and  the  blood. 
Too  often  to  others  than  scandalized  Jews 
it  is  true  that  the  atonement  by  blood  has 
become  an  occasion  of  annoyance  and  of 
criticism,  instead  of  acceptance  and  of  joy. 
Then  there  is  the  wisdom  of  the  world 
that  looks  upon  this  way  of  salvation  as  a 
folly.  The  supercilious  Greek  and  the 
haughty  Roman  alike  turned  away  from  the 
preaching  of  the  cross  of  Christ.  To  them 
it  seemed  absurd  that  deity  should  be  re- 
duced to  an  expedient  like  this  to  purge 
away  human  sin  and  effect  reconciliation 
between  God  and  man.    Alas,  it  must  be 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    151 

confessed  that  the  successors  of  these  phi- 
losophers are  still  among  us.  There  iare 
many  who  take  that  position  today,  attack- 
ing the  justice  of  the  divine  procedure  and 
frankly  rejecting  it  because  of  its  apparent 
inadequacy. 

We  oppose  to  both  of  these  misconcep- 
tions the  simple  statement  of  the  text  and 
the  trend  of  New  Testament  teaching  else- 
where. So  far  from  being  unworthy  of 
God,  we  are  here  told  that  this  divine,  sov- 
ereign procedure  became  him.  Think  of 
what  that  means,  that  a  course  of  conduct 
and  action  should  be  exactly  what  is  be- 
coming to  the  great  God,  the  ideal  of  wis- 
dom and  justice  and  love.  Let  us  simply 
think  what  we  mean  by  the  word  ''becom- 
ing." We  see  a  lovely  woman  beautifully 
attired,  and  we  say  her  dress  becomes  her. 
It  suits  all  her  charms  to  be  clothed  as  she 
is.  It  enhances  them.  And  thus  becom- 
ingly dressed  she  appears  in  the  social  cir- 
cle radiant  and  fair  in  her  beauty.  We 
take  a  high-minded  honorable  gentleman, 
devoted  to  everything  that  is  noble  and 
pure  and  unselfish  and  strong;  he  adopts 
in  difficult  times  a  certain  line  of  conduct, 
and  we  say  he  has  acted  becomingly.    He 


152    SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION 

has  done  wliat  a  gentleman  onght  to  do 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed.  Such  a  line  of  action  and  only  such 
a  line  of  action  became  him.  But  how  im- 
perfect are  such  illustrations  when  we 
come  to  think  of  what  is  becoming  to  God. 
What  beautifies  his  beauty  and  glorifies  his 
glory,  what  meets  the  requirements  of  his 
justice,  what  answers  the  demands  of  his 
wisdom,  what  enhances  the  perfection  of 
his  holiness  and  adorns  the  unspeakable  ful- 
ness of  his  love — that  is  becoming  to  God. 
And  here  we  are  told  that  to  provide 
through  sufferings  a  perfect  Saviour  who 
should  lead  the  children  of  men  into  the 
glory  of  heaven  and  of  eternal  salvation 
was  an  action  becoming  to  God. 

Shall  we  not,  therefore,  accept  that  which 
is  becoming  to  God?  In  this  great  essen- 
tial truth  of  our  religion  we  find  our  con- 
fidence and  our  hope.  That  which  was  an 
offense  to  the  Jew  and  a  folly  to  the  Greek 
has  been  proved  to  be  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  to  thousands  and  thousands 
of  all  ages  and  times.  It  does  not  lose  its 
power  today.  The  simple  child  sorrowing 
for  its  conscious  sins  may  here  find  for- 
giveness and  strength.     The  man  stained 


SOVEREIGNTY  IN  SALVATION    153 

and  blurred  with  the  conflicts  of  sin  has 
often  found  here  his  pardon  and  peace. 
The  aged  saint  goes  tottering  to  the  grave 
leaning  with  assurance  upon  the  divine 
promise.  Here  the  aching  heart  of  human- 
ity has  found  its  healing  balm.  Here  the 
utmost  agonies  of  suffering  and  of  death 
have  been  met  and  overcome.  Here  the 
fadeless  hope  of  eternal  life  has  sprung  up 
in  the  soil  of  our  earthliness  and  blossoms 
into  fragrance  and  beauty.  Here  mind  and 
heart  alike  find  their  resting  place  in  the 
sovereign,  saving  grace  of  God. 


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